Life <™% Influence 

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Frederick LWilev 




Glass JbiLhSll 

Book , RaW ff 

Copyright^ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



LIFE AND INFLUENCE 

OF THE 

REV. BENJAMIN RANDALL 



i 



LIFE AND INFLUENCE 

OF THE 

REV. BENJAMIN RANDALL 

FOUNDER OF THE 
FREE BAPTIST DENOMINATION 



Mr. Randall never ceased to lore the larger Baptist body. la 
his spirit aod that of our common Master this volume is written* 



By REV. FREDERICK L. WILEY 






PHILADELPHIA 

AMERICAN BAPTIST PUBLICATION SOCIETY 

BOSTON CHICAGO ST. LOUIS 

TORONTO, CAN. 






Copyright 19x5 by 
A. J. ROWLAND, Secretary 

Published March, 19x5 



JUN 19 1915 
©CU406373 



TO 

Xtbc 1Rev* Mosea (fcuinbg, W. !>♦ 

AN EARLY EDUCATOR IN OUR HIGH-GRADE SCHOOLS, 

AN ABLE MINISTER OF THE LORD'S GOSPEL, 

WHO HAD IT IN PURPOSE TO PUBLISH 

A BIOGRAPHY OF BENJAMIN RANDALL, 

BUT WAS CALLED TO HIGHER LIFE 

DURING THE INITIAL PROCESSES, 

THIS WORK IS GRATEFULLY 

DEDICATED 



" Feeding on lives and deeds im- 
mortal, we grow strong in exalted 
resolve and actions divine" 



FOREWORD 



The first Free Baptist church I ever saw 
soon became my religious home; and mem- 
bership in the body of Christians that church 
represented has been continuous to the pres- 
ent time, during more than sixty years. 
Mine was a case of " falling in love at first 
sight." But, like all properly placed affec- 
tion, that love has deepened and strength- 
ened with the passing years. 

While yet in the days of my youth, I 
began to investigate the conditions that were 
claimed in justification of our existence as 
a separate religious body. That interested 
me in the founder of this body, Benjamin 
Randall. As I studied the character, labors, 
and usefulness of this man, I was thrilled 
with an inexpressible admiration for him. 

I eagerly devoured all available printed 
literature about Mr. Randall and his times. 



Foreword 

I visited New Durham, the place of his resi- 
dence during his ministry, while yet unpub- 
lished facts and authentic traditions about 
him were fresh in the memory of the oldest 
people of the locality. Some of these were 
questioned. I had access to records written 
by Mr. Randall, which, if published, would 
make two or three respectable volumes. 
These were laid under tribute. 

The Rev. Hosea Quinby, D. D., had it 
in his heart to publish a biography of Ben- 
jamin Randall; but, in 1878, died with only 
a mass of scrappy material to represent his 
purpose. This was placed in my hands for 
discretionary use. A careful reading of this 
collection discovered but few facts usable 
for this work that I had not already gleaned 
from other sources. Some of these facts 
have been assimilated. 

Up to this stage of my search for facts 
respecting Mr. Randall, some of my expe- 
riences — though lacking in some points of 
analogy — have reminded me of Carlyle's 
quest for Cromwell. For more than two 



Foreword 

hundred years, facts about the religious life 
and wise statesmanship of Oliver Crom- 
well were buried in comparative obscurity. 
" Thomas Carlyle, with his passion for men 
who have done something, divined the truth 
about Cromwell, even before he began his 
search among the rubbish-heaps of papers 
and pamphlets relating to his period of the 
commonwealth, which had been dumped in 
a confused mass in the British Museum." 

Among the books that have been helpful 
for reference, especially in writing the sec- 
tion on " Posthumous Influence/' grateful 
mention would be made of the "Life of 
Benjamin Randall/' by Rev. John Buzzell; 
" History of the Freewill Baptists/' by Isaac 
D. Stewart, D. D. ; " Centennial Record/' by 
the Free Baptist Printing Establishment; 
the " Free Baptist Cyclopedia/' by Rev. G. 
A. Burgess, A. M., and John T. Ward, 
D. D. ; " Missionary Reminiscences/' by 
Mrs. M. M. H. Hills; and the " History of 
the Free Baptist Woman's Missionary So- 
ciety," by Mrs. Mary A. Davis. 



Foreword 

As all of these works are now out of print, 
it seems fitting that a brief biography of 
Benjamin Randall and a summary of his 
posthumous influence be given to the cur- 
rent public. " Men who have understanding 
of the times, to know what Israel ought to 
do," have conceded the demand for such a 
work. To have the assurance of the same 
men that the humble manuscript submitted 
holds the supply of this demand is very 
gratifying to the writer. 

If the finished product shall to any extent 
serve as an interpreter of Benjamin Ran- 
dall and our people to the world — if to any 
extent it shall strengthen the bond of union 
between our people and the larger Baptist 
body, so that the relation, now sympathetic 
and cooperative, may, in the near future, be- 
come organic — these results will be in line 
with the desire, prayer, and hope of the 
author. 

Frederick L. Wiley. 

Laconia, N. H., October, 1914. 



CONTENTS 

PART I 
THE LIFE-STORY 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Ancestry and Early Years, 

1749-1770 3 

II. Through Darkness to Light, 

1770 12 

III. Flattering Business Pros- 

pects Declined, 1770-1775. . 23 

IV. Patriotism and Christian 

Work, 1 775-1776 30 

V. Discovers Himself a Baptist, 

1776 36 

VI. From Reading Sermons to 

Preaching, 1777 43 

VII. Persecution Fearlessly 

Faced, 1777 49 

VIII. Randall Moves to New Dur- 
ham, 1778 57 



Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

IX. Called to Answer as to Doc- 
trine, 1778-1779 63 

X. If Wisdom and Comity had 
Dominated " Perhaps 
They Wouldn't " 72 

XL The Ordination of Mr. Ran- 
dall, 1780 78 

XII. New Durham Church 

Founded, 1780. 82 

XIII. The Scriptures Opened, 

1780 87 

XIV. Evangelistic Work in New 

Hampshire a n d Maine, 
1780-1781 ..... 92 

XV. Quarterly Meeting Organ- 
ized, 1782-1783. .......... 99 

XVI. Getting Together — Chris- 
tian Comity, 1784- 1786. . . 110 

XVII. Progress, 1787- 1790 123 

XVIII. Through Reverses to Vic- 
tory, 1791... 133 

XIX. Higher Organization, 1792. 140 



Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XX. Missionary Journey 

Through Forests, 1792. 149 

XXL Induction to the Minis- 
try, 1792 155 

XXII. Church Musi c — Congre- 
gation versus Choir, 
1793 •• 161 

XXIII. On the Trail of the Pio- 

neer, 1793-1797. .'. 166 

XXIV. Yearly Meeting — Attend- 

ance — Entertainment, 
1798 173 

XXV. The Transit of the Cen- 
tury, 1 799-1801 181 

XXVI. Denominational Name, 

1804-1805 189 

XXVII. Faint Yet Pursuing, 1807. 198 

XXVIII. From Grace to Glory, 1808. 209 

XXIX. Mr. Randall in Pen-pic- 
ture 220 

XXX. The Ministry under Ran- 
dall 226 



Contents 

PART II 
POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE 

CHAPTER PAGE 

XXXI. The Larger Growth 
of a Founder's 
Thoughts 241 

XXXII. Church Government... 244 

XXXIIL Attitude as to Intoxi- 
cants 248 

XXXIV. Home Missions 254 

XXXV. Foreign Missions 257 

XXXVI. Educational Work 262 

XXXVIL Remembering Those in 
Bonds as Bound with 
Them 267 

XXXVIII. Work Among the Freed- 

men 274 

XXXIX. Our Women in Coopera- 
tive Work. 282 

XL. Our Young People's 

Movement 287 

XLI. Our Special Mission 292 

XLII. The Spirit of Randall as 
Illustratfd by Last 
General Conference. . 299 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

Benjamin Randall Frontispiece 

Rev. John Buzzell 156 

The Randall Monument 219. 

Rev. Enoch Place 244 

Rev. John Colby 254 

Educational Pioneers 262 

Block and Gavel 290 

Joseph W. Mauck, LL. D 300 

Alfred Williams Anthony, D.D 304 



PART I 
THE LIFE-STORY 



B 



i 



ANCESTRY AND EARLY YEARS 
1749-1770 

AS with the heavenly bodies, so with 
some earthly bodies, in contemplation 
of them, we may " think God's thoughts 
after him." As with the heavenly bodies, 
so with Benjamin Randall. In his sterling 
ancestry, his eventful career, and his glori- 
ous ascension to the life more abundant, we 
have a clear illustration of the design, the 
providence, and the grace of God. 

New Castle, New Hampshire, is the place 
where Benjamin Randall first saw the light 
of this world. New Castle is a rock-bound 
island, with an area of about seven hundred 
acres. It is so near Portsmouth as to be 
connected to the city by a bridge, and yet is 
mostly open to the broad ocean. It has deep- 
water surroundings, thus allowing the easy 
and safe approach of the largest craft In 

[3] 



Benjamin Randall 

the early times New Castle, then called 
Great Island, held the highest rank in the 
colony. Its position attracted settlers as 
early as 1623. This island was for years 
not only the general mart of business for the 
infant colony, but the residence of the colo- 
nial governors and other leading men, the 
place where courts were held and justice dis- 
pensed. 

William Randall, born about 16 10, is the 
only immigrant to America by the name of 
Randall of whom we have any knowledge. 
He came to Rhode Island in 1636, but was 
at Marshfield, Massachusetts, in 1637. In 
1640 we find him settled in Scituate, Massa- 
chusetts, where, by his wife Elizabeth, he 
had Sarah, born in 1640; Joseph, March, 
1642; Hannah, March, 1644; William, De- 
cember, 1647; John, April, 1650; and Benja- 
min, 1659. 

Joseph Randall, second, married, in 1673, 
Hannah, daughter of William Macumber, 
and had Elizabeth and Sarah, twins, born 
in 1673; Joseph, 1675; Hannah, 1677; 

[43 



Benjamin Randall 

Sarah, 1680; Margaret, 1683; Mary, 1684; 
and Benjamin, 1688. 

The last named, Benjamin Randall, mar- 
ried Mary, daughter of Hon. Shadrach Wal- 
ton, of New Castle, New Hampshire, where 
he settled. Respecting the children of this 
pair we know nothing, except that one was 
a son, who was also named Benjamin. This 
son Benjamin was born about 1712, and 
married Margaret, daughter of Capt. Ben- 
jamin Mordantt, sometimes called Mordan. 
This Benjamin Randall of 1712 was known 
as Captain Randall. 

Benjamin Randall and Margaret Mor- 
dantt Randall had nine children, of whom 
Benjamin, the subject of this story, was the 
oldest. 

Respecting social, military, and political 
rank, at his birth, February 7, 1749, Benja- 
min, later called Elder Randall, entered into 
an honorable heritage. His parents were 
people of intelligence, education, and refine- 
ment. His Grandfather Walton was of 
good English stock. As a military man, this 

[5] 



Benjamin Randall 

Walton was ensign in 1691, major at the at* 
tack of Fort Royal in 1707, and colonel of 
the Rangers raised the next winter for 
guarding the New Hampshire coast in the 
Indian troubles of the times. As a civilian, 
he was judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas in 1635-1638; judge of the Supreme 
Court in 1638- 1639, an d again in 1 716-1737. 
He received the commission of Councillor to 
the Governor in 1716, which position he 
probably held during the remainder of his 
life, for he stood as senior councillor in 1733. 

Others of note descended from the same 
stock, some of whom contend that the line 
passing through the Walton vein can be 
traced back through several distinguished 
nobles to a monarch. Mr. Randall would 
often talk facetiously to his children of their 
noble blood as a motive for their consistent 
behavior. 

In early youth Benjamin enjoyed such 
means for mental culture as were afforded 
by the public schools, from which, with his 
own efforts and parental aid, he obtained a 

[6] 



Benjamin Randall 

"good commercial education." This was 
supplemented by general reading, close 
study, personal experience, and observation, 
so that he became, in an all-round sense, well 
educated for his age and times. 

As soon as he began to form definite no- 
tions of the divine character and require- 
ments, his mind took a decidedly religious 
turn. He says : 

At the age of five I seldom closed my 
eyes in sleep at night without prayer to God 
in such language as would best express the 
feelings of my heart. In those exercises I 
would often be affected to tears. From that 
time I practised secret prayer and was al- 
ways led to pray on my knees or prostrate 
on my face, though I had never seen any one 
pray in these attitudes, or heard that any 
particular attitude had been enjoined as a 
duty. 

In the church of his parents, both in 
family and public devotions, prayer was of- 
fered in the standing attitude. From his 
earliest remembrance, Benjamin also en- 

[7] 



Benjamin Randall 

joyed sanctuary services. With him, church 
attendance was never regarded as an irk- 
some duty, but always as a glad privilege. 

Benjamin's father was a sea-captain, and 
a portion of his youth was spent as a cabin- 
boy on board his father's ship. By this ex- 
perience the circle of his vision was enlarged, 
and his acquaintance with different localities 
and different people was extended. His 
desire for self-improvement led him to turn 
all such opportunities to good account. 

But a seafaring life included conditions 
that were not congenial to his refined and 
sensitive nature. He did not enjoy the so- 
ciety to which he was restricted on ship- 
board. Indeed, he was constantly shocked 
by the coarse jokes and profanity of the 
sailors. As his father safeguarded him as 
much as possible, and as he kept up his daily 
Bible readings and devotions, the youth was 
uncontaminated. Yet he longed for condi- 
tions that would enable him to choose his 
social, intellectual, and religious environ- 
ment. 

[8] 



Benjamin Randall 

When Benjamin was nearly eighteen 
years of age, in response to his request, his 
father apprenticed him to a sailmaker in 
Portsmouth, with whom he remained till he 
was twenty-one. In connection with this 
apprenticeship, after strict fidelity to busi- 
ness, which he rendered, he found opportu- 
nities for study which he improved. 

But, by an accidental occurrence, as it 
might seem to a casual observer, young 
Randall took up a branch of secular busi- 
ness for which his practical knowledge of 
sailmaking had measurably prepared him, 
and which did not depend for its success 
upon location in a seaboard town. And this 
is the way it happened : 

Awhile previous to his majority, Benja- 
min's father purchased for him a " dress- 
up " suit from rich, light-colored material, 
worn by society gentlemen at that time. At- 
tired in this, he attended a social gathering 
where the chairs had been recently " done 
over " in dark paint, not yet hard dry. On 
reaching home Randall found his garments 

[9] 



Benjamin Randall 

irregularly mottled. He did not want his 
father to know of the accident. But how 
could he conceal it? 

In this dilemma he called his own re- 
sourcefulness to the rescue. Having at hand 
all needed furnishings, and having learned 
their use at sea and at sailmaking, he retired 
to his room, where " positively no admit- 
tance " was to be allowed, and set about the 
task of changing the leopard's spots. Fortu- 
nately, the goods were reversible. He ripped 
the garments apart and turned them with 
such complete success in workmanship that 
no visible traces of his accident remained. 
Thus commenced his efforts as a tailor, at 
which trade he became proficient, and to 
which he turned in after years, as Paul 
turned to his tent-making, when necessity 
was upon him, for honorable support. 

All who impartially read the religious his- 
tory of the eighteenth century, and later, 
must admit that our country owes much to 
the parents of Benjamin Randall for giving 
it such a son, and for training him so strictly 

[IO] 



Benjamin Randall 

in the Puritanic system — a system well 
adapted to bringing the whole person under 
the restraints of proper discipline, begetting 
in him the habit of cheerfully submitting to 
the inevitable and courageously doing ob- 
vious duty. 

From home care and home culture the 
youth was enabled to carry into the world 
those habits ol neatness and order, of in- 
dustry and uprightness which ever proved 
invaluable treasures, opening to him doors 
of acceptable entrance and success, which 
might have remained closed to others less 
favored. Thus they laid in him a solid foun- 
dation upon which the grace of God built a 
noble superstructure. 



[Hi 



II 



THROUGH DARKNESS TO LIGHT 
I770 

FROM early childhood, through youth 
to manhood, Benjamin Randall had 
sustained the habit of daily Scripture read- 
ing and prayer. His external life had been 
in strict conformity to the standards of 
morals held and taught by his ancestral 
church — " The Standing Order." But soon 
after passing his majority he entered a re- 
ligious experience, to him entirely new. 

In 1 769- 1 770, George Whitefield made 
the last of his several evangelistic tours in 
this country. He arrived at Portsmouth, 
New Hampshire, on the twenty-third of 
September, 1770. But, personally, Mr. 
Randall was in neither mental nor spiritual 
condition to give him a cordial welcome. 
Not that he lacked interest in anything that 
might, in his opinion, make for public right- 

[12] 



Benjamin Randall 

eousness, but, as judged by the " Standing 
Order," the cause of religion had suffered 
somewhat in that vicinity by certain trav- 
eling preachers. Mr. Randall's sympathy 
with the established church, and his natural 
love of order, roused his antagonism against 
all preachers except the settled Congrega- 
tional clergy. 

The next day after the arrival of White- 
field, Randall, prompted largely by curiosity, 
followed the crowd into what was called the 
" Great Meeting-house," but with the reso- 
lution that the preaching of the evangelist 
should have no effect on him. Thus forti- 
fied, he heard Whitefield several times, the 
last being on Friday before the death of 
the great evangelist, which occurred on the 
following Sunday. 

A record found in Randall's journal has 
this : " The next Sabbath, September thir- 
tieth, our minister went to Portsmouth to 
preach in the Great Meeting-house, taking 
me with him." Then no bridge connected 
New Castle with the mainland, hence, the 

[13] 



Benjamin Randall 

minister needed some one to row him over 
to Portsmouth that day for his meeting. 
Randall, being an expert on the water, and 
very companionable withal, was selected for 
that purpose. In view of what occurred 
later, this arrangement seemed providential. 

At noon that day, while Randall was con- 
versing with a friend, a mounted herald ap- 
proached, proclaiming as he rode : " Mr. 
Whitefield is dead! Died this morning at 
Newburyport, about six o'clock! " This an- 
nouncement greatly shocked Mr. Randall. 
The sermons he had heard from the lips of 
Mr. Whitefield were passed in review. His 
mind was quickened, his conscience was 
aroused. He conceded the truth of those 
sermons and felt self -condemned that he 
had allowed prejudice to delay his apprecia- 
tion so long. 

Respecting the announcement of the 
herald, Randall says : 

As I heard this voice, an arrow from the 
Almighty pierced my heart. Mr. Whitefield 
was a man of God and I have spoken re- 

[14] 



Benjamin Randall 

proach fully of him. That voice is now si- 
lent in death. I would sacrifice anything if 
I could hear it again. But that cannot be. 
With what a loss have I met! On reaching 
home, I took my room to mourn in solitude 
over my condition. My former religion 
seemed altogether worthless. 

On October fifteenth, while musing on 
my condition, I fell into the following train 
of thought : " Once I was company for 
almost every one, but now for none. I took 
pleasure in the world, but now there re- 
mains nothing of that. All things appear 
insipid. I, who used to enjoy so much in 
prayer, now cannot offer one petition." Yet, 
on second thought, I know I did pray, 
though I did not enjoy prayer as formerly. 
While thus musing, Hebrews 9 : 26 came to 
my mind : " But now once in the end of the 
world hath he appeared to put away sin by 
the sacrifice of himself." I was in such deep 
meditation that the words passed without 
particular notice. They came up the second 
time, however; then I began to think, What 
can the passage mean? "But now once in 
the end of the world hath he appeared to put 
away sin by the sacrifice of himself" 

[15] 



Benjamin Randall 

While meditating upon the text my 
burden rolled off, leaving me calm and 
peaceful. As my faith grasped the meaning 
of the text I gave glory to God. And what 
a joy filled my soul! I could now see in 
Jesus Christ a blessed sacrifice for sin, to 
the full satisfaction of divine justice. How 
the character of Jesus shone in my soul! 
For a time I could do nothing but repeat 
the name of Jesus. Jesus! Jesus!! It 
seemed to me that if I had a thousand souls 
I could trust them all in his hands. I saw in 
him universal love, a universal atonement, a 
universal call to man, and felt confident that 
none could ever perish but those who re- 
fused to obey. 

Then what love I felt for all mankind — 
longing that they too might share in the 
fulness which I saw so extensive and so 
free. What pity flowed into my soul for 
poor sinners, whom I saw to be in the gall 
of bitterness and the bonds of iniquity. 

Now the question may arise as to Ran- 
dall's piety previous to this awakening under 
the preaching of Whitefield. Let us see. 
The habit of daily Bible reading, daily 

[16] 



Benjamin Randall 

prayer, regular attendance upon church 
services, and the faithful observance of all 
means of grace known to him, had been sus- 
tained from early childhood, through the 
years of youth, up to manhood. 

In the exuberance of youth he had in- 
dulged in a few social pastimes, but none not 
approved by his parents and family church. 
Up to Whitefield's visit to Portsmouth, Ran- 
dall's deportment had been above reproach. 
Respecting his internal condition, he might 
have said with Paul : " I have lived in all 
good conscience before God unto this day." 
In the anguish of his soul, when struggling 
for clearer evidence of divine acceptance, he 
refers to the fact that formerly he " enjoyed 
so much in prayer." Now, only those who 
are in right relations to God, enjoy prayer. 
His mental antagonism to Mr. Whitefield 
was not occasioned by the doctrines that 
were preached, but by his prejudice against 
all traveling preachers. 

The experiences of Mr. Randall, though 
not common, are not unknown to history. 

c [17] 



Benjamin Randall 

They place him in a class with some other 
religious leaders. Among representative 
cases, reference might be made to the de- 
cisive hours in the lives of Augustine, 
Luther, and John Wesley. Of these, the ex- 
periences of John Wesley were, in many re- 
spects, duplicated by those of Randall. 

John Wesley was well born. The piety he 
learned and imbibed at his mother's knee he 
carried through educational processes into 
sacred orders. But, it is more than probable 
that, with all his early excellences — and he 
had many — he placed undue emphasis upon 
good works as a condition of saving grace. 
One of his biographers, referring to this 
period, says : " He was narrowly introspec- 
tive and exclusively bent on saving his own 
soul." 

Wesley's mission to Georgia, though not a 
total failure, was far from a brilliant suc- 
cess. The Georgian colonists did not take 
kindly to his methods, and the Indians he 
had hoped to convert wanted none of his re- 
ligion. After a brief effort he returned to 

[18] 



Benjamin Randall 

England, thoroughly disgusted — with him- 
self. On his voyage home he wrote in his 
" Journal " : " I, who went to America to 
convert others, was never converted myself. 
I am a child of wrath, an heir of hell. ,, 
Wesley afterward retracted these extreme 
statements; but they show his mood on re- 
turning from his Georgian mission. 

But if a prophet had whispered in the ear 
of John Wesley, he might have said: " Be of 
good cheer ! It is the divine order that suf- 
fering should be the price of usefulness. 
The Lord would show thee how great things 
thou must suffer for his name's sake. Only 
be thou strong and very courageous. Thou 
shalt yet renew the religious life of thy 
beloved England. Thy disciples shall yet 
spread over the same America that wit- 
nessed thy humiliation. Thou shalt yet have 
the world for thy parish. ,, 

For a while after Wesley reached Eng- 
land he preached a faith for which he con- 
fessed himself to be waiting. But after a 
few months he got the blessing he sought, 

[19] 



Benjamin Randall 

and a paragraph quoted from his journal 
gives the manner of it : 

In the evening I went unwillingly to 
a society (of Moravians) in Aldersgate 
Street, London, where one was reading 
Luther's preface to the Epistle to the Ro- 
mans. About a quarter before nine, while 
he was describing the change which God 
works in the heart, through faith in Christ, 
I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I 
did trust Christ, Christ alone, for my salva- 
tion ; and an assurance was given me that he 
had taken away my sins — even mine — and 
saved me from the law of sin and death. 

Where there is evidence of former piety 
up to crises such as here described, the most 
recent psychology regards these sudden 
transitions from a lower to a higher, a per- 
turbed to a restful, spiritual state, however 
caused, as incidents to mark the ingress of 
new truths and new motives otherwise in- 
accessible. This philosophy seems to have 
application to both Wesley and Randall. 

But our special interest centers in Ran- 

[20] 



Benjamin Randall 

dall. May we not account for this crisis in 
his religious experience in a way entirely 
consistent with a concession to his former 
piety and God's gracious purposes concern- 
ing him? It seems evident that Randall had 
been pious from his childhood up to this 
crisis. But it seems quite as evident that 
his piety had been self-centered, and there- 
fore of a low order. His dominant motive 
seems to have been to save his own soul and 
make sure of heaven. If he had died during 
those years he would doubtless have been 
saved, as were probably some of the " Pil- 
lar Saints" and other ascetics, who never 
knew till they got to heaven how they failed, 
because of their narrowness, of a more 
abundant entrance. 

Benjamin Randall was a chosen vessel 
unto the Lord, to bear his name before the 
Gentiles and God's Israel. But before he 
could receive his commission he must be 
lifted from a lower to a higher plane of 
Christian life. He must know, as he had 
never known before, the exceeding sinful- 

[21] 



Benjamin Randall 

ness of sin. He must realize as he had 
never realized before, its hatefulness in the 
sight of God. He must have a fuller reali- 
zation, than he had ever had before, of the 
sweet peace that follows deliverance from 
sin, and the ecstatic joy of a heart filled with 
God's abounding grace. 

Some of the processes of this uplift were 
so agonizing that it is not strange that Ran- 
dall was at times led to question the genuine- 
ness of his former piety. But short of these 
experiences, Randall could not have stood 
with God upon the mount. Short of these 
experiences he could not have had a vision 
of his future field of labor. Short of these 
experiences he could not have efficiently filled 
the interim between the mount of vision 
and the glory beyond. 



[22] 



Ill 



FLATTERING BUSINESS PROSPECTS DECLINED 

1 770- 1 775 

MR. RANDALL spent the summer of 
1 77 1 at his trade, in Marblehead and 
Salem. He lived a watchful and devoted 
life, and attended religious services strictly 
with his own sect. During this time he had 
an offer which gave flattering prospects of 
soon making him a man of wealth. This, 
however, he declined to accept, and for rea- 
sons that, at the time, he could neither un- 
derstand nor explain. In referring to the 
matter he says : " But since, I have seen that 
God overruled in the matter, having other 
and more important work for me in pros- 
pect." 

Randall returned to New Castle in Octo- 
ber, hired a sail-loft, and set up business for 
himself. On the twenty-eighth day of No- 
vember he was united in marriage with Miss 

[23] 



A 



Benjamin Randall 

Joanna Oram, youngest daughter of Capt. 
Robert Oram, of Kittery, Maine. Captain 
Oram was a native of Topsham, England. 
In early manhood he migrated to America 
and landed in the South, but after a brief 
stay he settled at Kittery, married Joanna 
Mitchell and, as was the manner of the 
times, raised up a family of which Joanna, 
born March 2, 1748, became the wife of 
Benjamin Randall. 

The record Randall made in his "Jour- 
nal " respecting the good providences of God 
in the person of his wife, he never had oc- 
casion to revise: " I believe she was the gift 
of God to me, and that no woman was ever 
better suited to the place in which she was 
to stand. May God have the praise." 

When the newly married pair commenced 
housekeeping they erected the family altar, 
which stood till death broke in upon the 
union. 

In the fall of 1772 Mr. Randall called on 
his pastor and informed him of the desire, 
on the part of himself and wife, to become 

[24] 



Benjamin Randall 

members of the church, and received the 
reply : " Well, Mr. Randall, I am glad you 
have come to a sense of your duty; I will pro- 
pound you next Sabbath/ 5 On saying this, 
the pastor was about to leave the room. But 
the applicant, having anticipated that he 
might be examined on his Christian experi- 
ence and views of religious doctrine, asked 
for such advice as might seem needful, pre- 
paratory to such an important step. To this 
no answer came. Mr. Randall persisted, 
however, as he tells us : 

After a pause in the conversation I 
broke the silence and, in short, related to him 
what the Lord had done for my soul. To 
this he made no reply, but looked as though 
he thought it strange. I requested that I 
might see the covenant and have it ex- 
plained, that I might be sure that I under- 
stood its import. He permitted me to take 
a copy home for examination. In response 
to my invitation, he promised to call and 
interview my wife on the matter. This call 
he made the next day, staying perhaps an 
hour, but saying nothing on religious sub- 

[25] 



Benjamin Randall 

jects during the time. When rising to leave, 
he turned to Mrs- Randall and said : " Your 
husband tells me you have a mind to join 
the church. I will propound you to-mor- 



row." 



Mr. and Mrs. Randall were duly received 
to membership in the Congregational church 
at New Castle. But Mr. Randall soon found 
that he had united with a people whose re- 
ligious experience was not like his own — a 
people who neither shared with him his 
heavenly emotions nor his burning zeal for 
the salvation of souls. But let him speak for 
himself : 

On better acquaintance, I found that the 
church had neither order nor discipline. 
Men of intemperate and corrupt habits were 
allowed to come each month to the commu- 
nion without reproof. This discovery, with 
a view of the condition in which those were 
who made no pretense to piety, caused me 
such great distress of mind that at times it 
seemed as though I could not live. My 
food became tasteless, and sleep departed 

[26] 



Benjamin Randall 

from my eyes. By night, when whole fami- 
lies were sleeping, I would walk the streets, 
stop before their doors, lamenting their con- 
dition, and praying God in their behalf. 

As opportunity offered, Randall talked 
with his brethren respecting the importance 
of a deeper work of grace in the church and 
efforts for the salvation of those outside. 
Thus matters continued till the spring of 
1774, when Randall felt impelled to go for- 
ward in a more open and decided effort. 

He conceived the plan of opening meet- 
ings in which the people could listen to the 
reading of printed sermons and exercise 
their gifts in prayer, exhortation, and sing- 
ing. This suggestion, when confided to Ran- 
dall's special sympathizers, received their 
hearty approval. 

The first move was to get the consent of 
their pastor, which was given with apparent 
cordiality, and with a promise of occasional 
attendance himself. These new gatherings 
caused no little excitement in the place. 
Whatever the motive on the part of the 

[27] 



Benjamin Randall 

people, they were largely attended and there 
were indications of a general revival. 

The local pastor attended but once, and 
then showed signs of disapproval. From 
later manifestations it became evident that 
he was jealous of Mr. Randall for starting 
another religious center which, though in- 
tended as a helping hand of the church, was 
regarded by the pastor as a rival. This 
feeling of alienation on the part of the 
pastor ripened into coldness, and finally 
antagonism. 

As Mr. Randall loved his ancestral church 
and desired its welfare, as he loved his na- 
tive town and desired its evangelization, as 
he loved his pastor and desired to be a 
worker together with him for public better- 
ment, the developments described in the 
foregoing paragraphs were the cause of 
bitter grief to his soul. But they opened his 
eyes clearly to the fact that it would be 
neither for his own benefit nor for the glory 
of God for him to continue his membership 
with that church. So, after making the 

[28] 



Benjamin Randall 

matter a subject of fasting and prayer, he 
sadly, but decisively, withdrew. 

How sad, alarmingly sad, was the re- 
ligious condition of that community! What 
a demand for a radical reform! But the 
conditions of reformation were already 
present and operative. A small cloud was 
already in the heavens, and the sound of 
abundance of rain would soon be heard. 



[291 



IV 



PATRIOTISM AND CHRISTIAN WORK 
I775-I776 

IN common with many patriots of his 
times, Mr. Randall had a military ex- 
perience. The clouds of the Revolution, so 
long and so sullenly gathering, had at length 
shut down over the country with terrific 
gloom. Indeed, on the plains of Lexington, 
the war had already begun. There was not 
one drop of Tory blood coursing through 
the veins of young Randall, and with all the 
ardor of his nature he responded to his 
country's call for patriots. 

According to an article in the Adjutant- 
general's Department of New Hampshire, 
awhile previous to the real outbreak, from 
apprehensions of danger on our coast, cer- 
tain of the militia were called to muster at 
New Castle. Among these, Mr. Randall 
was enrolled in the company of Capt. John 

[30] 



Benjamin Randall 

Parsons. But the fear soon subsided, and 
the company was dismissed. 

Early in the summer of 1775 a British 
man-of-war hove in sight and lay near New 
Castle. As the town was wholly unpro- 
tected, the people very naturally feared that 
it might wantonly be laid in ashes as had 
been Falmouth, now Portland, and other 
coast towns that year. 

Mr. Randall and his brethren held a spe- 
cial meeting for fasting and prayer that the 
impending danger might be averted. What 
influence this observance exerted we may 
never know. But New Castle was saved and 
the warship sailed away. 

In October the danger from the enemy 
became so threatening that the people fled 
from New Castle into the country. Ran- 
dall was opposed to going; but, as his wife 
was in such fear, he assented and moved his 
family to the upper part of Kittery. As a 
sufficient number of troops had arrived to 
guard the place, in November he removed 
his family to New Castle, and immediately 

[31] 



Benjamin Randall 

Mr. Randall was a highly intelligent, ac- 
tive, and upright young man. His habits 
were excellent; he, with his brethren, kept 
up a meeting in the place, which caused the 
remark in camp that " Randall means to be 
a preacher/' His influence among the sol- 
diers was of a most salutary character. He 
was accustomed to visit the sick and admin- 
ister to them the consolations of religion; 
indeed, doing largely the duties of a chap- 
lain. Thus many a desponding heart was 
cheered and made strong by his efforts. 

But some of the scoffing class for a time 
took occasion to deride him for what he was 
doing. To this, however, Colonel Mooney 
brought an effectual end. This officer was a 
stern man and, withal, a great lover of order 
and uprightness. He admired the untiring 
efforts, gratuitously bestowed by Mr. Ran- 
dall, for bettering the condition of those 
called out for the defense of their country. 
Hearing of these indignities, at the next 
parade he called the attention of the regi- 
ment to the matter, expressing his deep cha- 
grin at the fact that any of his soldiers 

[34] 



Benjamin Randall 

should show themselves so vile ana debased. 
He stated with unmistakable words and 
accents that a repetition of that abuse would 
be visited with severe punishment. This 
had the effect desired. 

These facts about Colonel Mooney were 
stated by his son John, then a youth in army 
service, in attendance on his father, but 
years later Judge Mooney of New Hamp- 
ton. 



[351 



Benjamin Randall 

Mr. Randall was a highly intelligent, ac- 
tive, and upright young man. His habits 
were excellent; he, with his brethren, kept 
up a meeting in the place, which caused the 
remark in camp that " Randall means to be 
a preach er." His influence among the sol- 
diers was of a most salutary character. He 
was accustomed to visit the sick and admin- 
ister to them the consolations of religion; 
indeed, doing largely the duties of a chap- 
lain. Thus many a desponding heart was 
cheered and made strong by his efforts. 

But some of the scoffing class for a time 
took occasion to deride him for what he was 
doing. To this, however, Colonel Mooney 
brought an effectual end. This officer was a 
stern man and, withal, a great lover of order 
and uprightness. He admired the untiring 
efforts, gratuitously bestowed by Mr. Ran- 
dall, for bettering the condition of those 
called out for the defense of their country. 
Hearing of these indignities, at the next 
parade he called the attention of the regi- 
ment to the matter, expressing his deep cha- 
grin at the fact that any of his soldiers 

[34] 



Benjamin Randall 

should show themselves so vile ana debased. 
He stated with unmistakable words and 
accents that a repetition of that abuse would 
be visited with severe punishment. This 
had the effect desired. 

These facts about Colonel Mooney were 
stated by his son John, then a youth in army 
service, in attendance on his father, but 
years later Judge Mooney of New Hamp- 
ton. 



[351 



DISCOVERS HIMSELF A BAPTIST 
1776 

THOUGH separated from the church 
which did not accept kindly his efforts 
of service, Mr. Randall did not long remain 
isolated. His yearnings of soul for conge- 
nial associations were soon gratified. Those 
of like desires for higher attainments in 
Christian life soon gathered about him. 
The very few of this class belonging to the 
church he had left soon followed his exam- 
ple and also withdrew. Those doing this 
clung to each other with great tenacity. 
Though few in numbers, and the objects of 
much persecution, they trusted in God and 
pressed forward. They also opened meet- 
ings for religious services by themselves. 
Among evidences of God's approval they 
were favored with a gradual increase, both 
in numbers and Christian graces. 

[36] 



Benjamin Randall 

Notwithstanding the excitements inci- 
dental to martial surroundings, Mr. Randall 
began to feel strong convictions that he 
ought to preach the gospel These convic- 
tions followed him wherever he went or 
however engaged. 

The time that remained to Mr. Randall, 
aside from the exactions of his official 
duties, he devoted to the study of the Bible, 
with special reference to the subject of bap- 
tism. He became convinced that believers 
are the only proper subjects of the ordi- 
nance, and that immersion is the only scrip- 
tural mode of administration. In short, he 
found that to be consistent with God's word 
he must come out a Baptist. Though he 
wanted to know the truth as to this and all 
other matters pertaining to doctrine, it was 
with sadness that he made this discovery. 
He says: 

Though it was like taking away a right 
hand to give up my former views on this 
point, I durst not hold them where I found 
not a " Thus saith the Lord." 

[37] 



Benjamin Randall 

Mr. Randall's convictions respecting the 
ministry, to which reference has been made, 
grew more and more absorbing. A quota- 
tion from his journal is illustrative: 

One day while I was attending to my 
usual duties, and at the same time bewailing 
the state of the ungodly, the power of God 
seemed to impress me to go out and warn 
them. But, while pleading against this be- 
cause of my insufficiency, these words came 
impressively to my mind, " Set them before 
them." On turning to my Bible, the first 
words that caught my eye were these : " And 
when he had taken the five loaves and two 
fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed 
and brake the loaves, and gave them to his 
disciples to set before them." Considering 
how the disciples remonstrated because they 
had so little, and how Christ multiplied it, 
my pleas were all silenced. 

Soon after becoming settled on the doc- 
trine of baptism, Mr. Randall's own duty in 
the matter confronted him. He at first 
thought of going to Stratham and seeking 
baptism at the hand of Doctor Shepard. 

[38] 



Benjamin Randall 

Then, again, he felt that he must consult, at 
least, his brother Trefethren on the subject. 
Hence he set off one evening for that pur- 
pose. On the way he met the object of his 
visit coming to interview him on the same 
subject. Both were greatly surprised and 
overjoyed at the coincidence. They inter- 
preted this as providential, and by it their 
faith was much strengthened. They con- 
cluded, however, to keep this change of 
views to themselves until its declaration 
might be made without endangering division 
in their company, and planned to go to some 
other place and receive baptism. But before 
an opportunity for this presented, it seemed 
to Mr. Randall wise to modify their plans so 
far as to test the sentiments of others asso- 
ciated with them. But here is his own story 
about it : 

We were met in one of our private fasts, 
and were enjoying a blessed meeting. I 
thought I would attempt to ascertain the 
minds of all present respecting baptism, and 
commenced thus : " What a poor little com- 

[39] 



Benjamin Randall 

pany of speckled birds we are! We belong 
to no society or denomination of people. I 
wonder if, on inquiry, we could tell what to 
call ourselves. Well, if anything, I am a 
Baptist." " So am I," exclaimed Brother 
Tref ethren. " So am I," " And so am I," 
" And so am I," came from every one pres- 
ent. What a surprise filled our minds! 
When conversing freely on the matter, we 
found that all at the same time had been at 
the same school, under the same Teacher, 
and had come to the same conclusions; not 
one having mentioned the matter to his fel- 
low — for we had no man to teach us, 

Prof. A. T. Robertson has said : " Given 
an open Bible, an open mind, and a con- 
science in good working order, and we will 
have a Baptist." Among many others, the 
experiences of John Bunyan, Adoniram Jud- 
son, Benjamin Randall, and his company of 
the Lord's disciples are corroborative. 

In a further account of that meeting of 
discovery, Randall says: 

How did our hearts rejoice together! We 
shouted and praised God for his wonderful 

[40] 



Benjamin Randall 

ways, and for the increase of our union and 
fellowship. The desire was unanimously 
expressed that an administrator be sent for 
to baptize us all at home. But before that 
could be brought about, report came that 
Mr. William Hooper was to be ordained at 
Berwick, and Mr. Trefethren and I decided 
to attend. 

On leaving home we had no thought of 
being baptized on that occasion. But, as 
Mr. Hooper was to administer the ordinance 
to others that day, after his ordination, the 
impression came upon us with great power 
to embrace the opportunity and not wait for 
a more convenient season. So we were then, 
October 14, 1776, and there baptized, and, 
like the eunuch of Ethiopia, returned home 
rejoicing. 

At his baptism Mr. Randall united with 
the Baptist church at Berwick. Mr. Hooper 
soon after evinced his pastoral faithfulness 
by writing him a letter. The response to 
this, and also a letter to the church written 
a day later, are interesting as specimens of 
the general style of letter-writing in Colonial 

[41] 



Benjamin Randall 

times, and as exponents of the excellent 
spirit that characterized Mr. Randall, and 
show how profoundly satisfied he was with 
his newly found religious home, the Baptist 
church. 






[42] 



VI 



FROM READING SERMONS TO PREACHING 

1777 

THE brethren had continued their meet- 
ings in the form adopted at the begin- 
ning, Randall taking the lead in reading and 
other exercises. But one evening as they 
were closing, one of the attendants called 
out: "Mr. Randall, I am tired of hearing 
you read old sermons. If you will not 
preach to us, do leave that off and read the 
Bible instead." The expression, " If you 
will not preach to us," deeply impressed Mr. 
Randall's mind, leading him to infer that 
others also knew of his duty. 

On reflection Mr. Randall concluded to 
comply with the request as far as it con- 
cerned Bible reading, but not as a step to- 
ward preaching. In pursuance of this pur- 
pose, at their next meeting he opened his 
Bible at John 13 : 1, and read: "Now be- 

[43] 



Benjamin Randall 

fore the feast of the Passover, when Jesus 
knew that his hour was come," etc. After 
reading the first verse, instead of going to 
the next, he paused to give a few words by 
way of exposition. The text opened to his 
mind such a rich train of thought that he 
continued at some length, when he became 
suddenly conscious that he was doing what 
he did not intend to do. That is, he found 
himself expounding the Scriptures or, as 
some might say, preaching. With this 
awakening he sat down, covered with con- 
fusion. 

The next day his chagrin was greatly in- 
creased by the current report that " Randall 
preached last night." He resolved not to 
venture in this direction again, but to re- 
turn to his former course. Hence, for their 
next meeting he took a volume of Watts 5 
sermons with him. On opening the service 
he was doubtful which to read, the Bible or 
a sermon. In his hesitation, he took up first 
one, then the other. Thus he shifted a few 
times, but finally settled upon the sermons, 

[44] 



Benjamin Randall 

one of which he began to read. But we will 
let him describe results : 

As I read I began to die — as to springs 
of life in my soul ; and the more I read, the 
more I felt the life departing. At length I 
thought, should I venture a line further the 
Lord would depart and give me up to hard- 
ness of heart and blindness of mind. What 
feelings were mine ! I threw down the book 
and broke in confession. With tears I told 
the people how the Lord had made it mani- 
fest to me, for the last two years, that it 
was my duty to preach the gospel. I told 
them that I had been like Jonah, who at- 
tempted to flee away from the presence of 
the Lord. But now I was, by the grace of 
God, resolved to be obedient, and give my- 
self up to his service as long as I lived 

The next day Mr. Randall wrote a cove- 
nant in which he laid himself and his all 
upon the altar for service or sacrifice, as it 
might please God. After this consecration 
he received a renewal of his commission 
and a fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit. 
His former timidity about preaching now 

[45] 



Benjamin Randall 

entirely left him. Instead of centering his 
thoughts upon his own incapacity, he was 
enabled more fully to realize God's exhaust- 
less resources, and to grasp more firmly his 
promises of support. This experience oc- 
curred some time in March, 1777- 

At their next meeting Mr. Randall took 
the Bible with all needful confidence and 
gave his first sermon, choosing for his text 
Revelation 3 : 12: "Him that overcometh 
will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, 
and he shall go no more out." This effort 
was greatly to the edification of his hearers, 
and gave high promise as to the future. 

The stand thus taken by Mr. Randall 
caused much excitement in the place. A cer- 
tain class gave bold threats of personal vio- 
lence if he should persist in his undertaking. 
Yet he was graciously preserved and went 
fearlessly on, holding meetings both day and 
night, preaching on an average four times a 
week. 

For several weeks he saw no special re- 
sults of his efforts except an increasing 

[46] 



Benjamin Randall 

congregation and the spiritual quickening of 
his associate workers. What he sought and 
prayed for was the salvation of sinners, and 
it is not strange that he w r as getting some- 
what discouraged because he saw no special 
move on their part. But God was working 
out his gracious purposes, and would soon 
give abundant proof that the prayers of his 
servant were heard and that his labors were 
not in vain. 

On a Sabbath in the spring of 1777, Mr. 
Randall preached from Titus 2: 14: "Who 
gave himself for us, that he might redeem 
us from all iniquity." This greatly moved 
his audience, especially the unconverted por- 
tion of it. As the assembly was passing out 
at the close, he heard a voice in the street, 
toward which the people were centering. On 
pressing through the crowd he found a 
woman in great distress on account of her 
sins. As he approached, she exclaimed: " O 
Mr. Randall, what shall I do? I am a miser- 
able, undone sinner! " 

In reply Mr. Randall said, " Come into 

[47] 



Benjamin Randall 

the house and I will tell you." The people 
speedily reassembled, and he instructed the 
inquirer as to the proper course for her to 
pursue. That is, to submit herself wholly 
to God, and earnestly pray for the forgive- 
ness of her sins. This she did then and there, 
and her example was followed by others. 
This event, so extraordinary at the time, 
produced a powerful effect upon the congre- 
gation. Some mourned for their sins, and 
some praised God for the manifestations of 
his grace. 



[48] 



VII 

PERSECUTION FEARLESSLY FACED 
1777 

FOR a while the work bore down all 
opposition. People flocked to hear 
the new preacher, and the revival spread 
till some thirty were hopefully converted. 
Then opposition commenced in open demon- 
stration. The enemies of equal rights and 
the exercise of religious liberty began to 
feel alarmed, and judged that something 
must be done to arrest the revival. In Mr. 
Randall's report of it we have this : 



Now persecution grew very hot, and 
such threatening language was used that I 
really felt my life in danger. But I gave 
myself to prayer, and the Lord wonderfully 
protected me. As I was walking the street 
one day, a brickbat was thrown at me with 
such violence that it was broken in pieces 
on hitting the opposite fence. The aim was 



E 



[49] 



Benjamin Randall 

so accurate that it brushed the hair on my 
head. Had I been two inches farther back, 
results must have been fatal. May eternal 
praise be given to Him who shielded my life ! 
I was about turning my head to see whence 
the missile came and who threw it, but 
thought I will not, I don't want to know. 
Now I can pray, "Lay not this sin to his 
charge." Should I know, perhaps when I 
see him I might feel some hardness. 

One evening a number came and stood 
before my door, reviling and cursing me, 
with the threat that they would throw me 
into the river. These, I think, were from a 
neighboring town. 

Once I appointed a meeting in New Cas- 
tle-on-the-Main, where a goodly number as- 
sembled. One of the selectmen from Rye 
and one from New Castle, with tar and 
feathers, and each leading a mob, met at a 
gate where they supposed I should pass, 
purposing to tar and feather me. But I hap- 
pened to go to the place by water. They 
were so exasperated at their disappointment 
that they applied the material intended for 
me to the posts and beams of the gate, where 
it remained a long time as a memorial of 

[50] 



Benjamin Randall 



their wicked purpose. Many a passer-by 
had them in derision. 

One occasion more of attempted mob vio- 
lence must suffice here. The same summer, 
by invitation, Mr. Randall appointed to 
preach in a town not far away. But pre- 
vious to the appointed day he received sev- 
eral intimations of threats from certain of 
the people that, should he attempt to fill his 
appointment, they would mob him. The 
evening previous to the designated time, a 
brother came expressly to charge him not 
to venture upon an attempt to hold the serv- 
ice, as the town was in an uproar. But he 
would go, let the consequences be what they 
might. He was not to be daunted. His 
commission made no provision for danger 
that might lie between him and duty. 

Calling at a friend's on the way, near the 
border of the town, he met a report that, the 
day previous, parties had been about with a 
drum, beating for volunteers; that a band 
of forty men was collected at a tavern he 

[5i] 



Benjamin Randall 

was to pass; that a man had offered this mob 
a barrel of rum if they would kill Mr. Ran- 
dall. To this he responded in his character- 
istic aptness: 

That is the devil's old regiment. He 
raised forty men before to kill brother Paul. 
But he missed it then, and I believe he will 
now. I feel that God has called me to 
preach in that town, and I am resolved to 
go. It would be better for me to die many 
times over, could that be, than to desert the 
cause of Christ and bring reproach upon it. 

He adds : 

All who came in said what they could to 
dissuade me from venturing forward, and I 
received no encouragement but from my 
blessed Master. 

Finally the woman of the house where he 
was to preach came by a crossway, with 
face bathed in tears, and besought him not 
to proceed, as the mob might kill him and do 
her and her house much harm. To this he 
replied : 

[52] 



Benjamin Randall 

Don't be afraid, woman; you shall not be 
injured because of me, I must go into your 
town to preach the gospel, but can do with- 
out a house to preach in. I am willing to 
stand under a tree and there address any 
who will hear me. 



Accompanied by a few friends, Mr. Ran- 
dall went by the tavern where the mob was 
waiting, sure enough, but no violence was 
offered him. When he reached the place 
of his appointment he found the man of the 
house calm and unintimidated by threats; 
so it was mutually agreed to hold the service 
where appointed — in the house. 

After waiting awhile for the mob, Mr. 
Randall commenced his sermon, taking for 
his text Acts 13 : 46: " Then Paul and Bar- 
nabas waxed bold, and said, It was neces- 
sary that the word of God should first have 
been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it 
r'from you, and judge yourselves unworthy 
of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gen- 
tiles." Soon after the opening of the serv- 
ices the dreaded mob drew up in line in 

[53] 



Benjamin Randall 

front of the house. At this the women took 
fright and ran out of the house, causing 
some commotion. But the men remained 
quiet, and the speaker proceeded without the 
least intimidation. The same spirit that in- 
spired God's servants, mentioned in the text, 
sustained and emboldened Mr. Randall. He 
says: 

As soon as I saw them I felt a most 
blessed degree of God's power drop into my 
soul. I felt assured that it would be impos- 
sible for them to touch my person; or, if 
tearing the house down over my head, for 
one stick of its timbers to fall on me. I felt 
completely shielded by the omnipotent hand. 

Soon after the arrival of the company a 
tempestuous shower arose, producing a 
scene, perhaps in a faint degree, resembling 
that witnessed on Mount Sinai at the giving 
of the law. While the speaker was pro- 
claiming the truth as powerfully as he could 
within, the lightning's flash and the thun- 
der's roar spoke in appalling accents with- 
out. 

[54] 



Benjamin Randall 

Just as the meeting closed the shower 
ceased, and the thunder was heard only in 
the distance. Mr. Randall went out and 
shook hands with several of the men, not 
one of the company giving him an ungentle- 
manly word. The company soon retreated, 
and Mr. Randall's friends, supposing all 
danger past, left him to go unattended to an 
evening appointment on his way home. 

He had not proceeded far before entering 
a pine thicket, where he caught sight of the 
band. The time, between sunset and dark, 
the lonely thicket, the mob blinded by big- 
otry and frenzied by rum, combined to give 
an uncanny suggestion of danger; but he 
halted not. If the God of Joshua whispered 
in his ear, the message might have been in 
substance the same as that given to his an- 
cient servant: "As I was with Moses, so 
will I be with thee. I will not fail thee nor 
forsake thee. Turn not to the right hand 
or to the left. Have not I commanded thee ? 
Be strong and of good courage; be not 
afraid, neither be thou dismayed; for the 

[55] 



Benjamin Randall 

Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever 
thou goest." In any case, Mr. Randall rode 
fearlessly forward. On his approach, the 
mob opened to the right and left, allowing 
him ample room and, with uncovered heads, 
said " Good night! " as he passed. 

This occurrence at once illustrates Mr. 
Randall's indomitable courage and the 
declaration of the psalmist : " Surely the 
wrath of man shall praise thee: the re- 
mainder of wrath shalt thou restrain." He 
attributed this deliverance to the providence 
and grace of God. This is evinced by the 
exclamation that closes this account of it : 

Oh, the infinite goodness of God to me! 
What shall I render unto him for all his 
goodness? I will offer the sacrifice of 
thanksgiving, and call upon the name of the 
Lord. 



[56] 



VIII 

RANDALL MOVES TO NEW DURHAM 
1778 

DURING the summer of 1777 Mr. Ran- 
dall commenced traveling farther into 
country places on preaching tours. He la- 
bored considerably in Madbury and adjacent 
places, and saw a goodly number converted. 
On one of these excursions certain men 
from New Durham heard him, and extended 
an invitation for him to visit that place and 
preach to their people. In compliance, 
he shortly after bent his course thither. 
As he went, he preached at intervening 
towns, and saw rich displays of God's con- 
verting grace in several of them. But his 
own description of that journey justifies its 
reproduction: 

It was a wonderful journey. Wherever I 
went the blessed Master was with me. The 
power of God fell on old and young. Sin- 

[57] 



Benjamin Randall 

ners were crying for mercy, and many were 
led to rejoice in God all through Barrington. 
But some opposed me in great rage, called 
after me, reviled, threatened, but the Lord 
preserved me. 

It appears that the part of the town where 
Randall's labors were most particularly 
blessed was then called Crown Point, but 
since Strafford Corner. Reverend Hooper, 
of Berwick, soon followed Randall, bapti- 
zing the converts and gathering them into a 
branch of his church. 

Mr. Randall's preaching at New Durham 
caused quite an awakening among the peo- 
ple. One result was that they united in ex- 
tending a call to him to move into the town 
and become their minister. To this solicita- 
tion, however, at the time, he gave no en- 
couragement. During the fall, after his re- 
turn from an eastern journey, Mr. Randall 
again visited New Durham. Finding the 
people still urgent in their request before 
made, he answered them that, could he know 
it to be God's will, he would comply. 

[58] 



Benjamin Randall 

After a meeting of fasting and prayer 
for divine guidance, all came to the conclu- 
sion that " the thing proceeded from the 
Lord." Hence, the citizens, by a commit- 
tee, waited on him, with proposals for set- 
tlement. This was a proposal that Mr. Ran- 
dall become the settled minister of the town, 
to spend his life there, and that his salary 
be paid from the town treasury, as was the 
custom in the case of the regular clergy of 
the times. 

To this committee Mr. Randall gave an 
affirmative answer as to his locating in 
town, but made it clear that he could not 
consider further conditions of settlement; 
that it was not his purpose to confine his 
ministrations wholly to one locality, but to 
hold himself at liberty to serve others with- 
al, as God might direct. In accordance with 
a few simple details, mutually agreed upon, 
the matter was settled. 

Mr. Randall, with his family, left New 
Castle March 23, 1778, and arrived at his 
destined home on the twenty-sixth of the 

[59] 



Benjamin Randall 

same month. Thus he settled for life, ma- 
king New Durham the base of his subse- 
quent ministrations. 

New Durham is located about twenty-five 
miles from Concord, in a northeasterly di- 
rection. It was granted to proprietors in 
1759 and incorporated in 1764. It was first 
settled in about 1762, largely by people from 
Durham, New Hampshire, hence it took the 
name New Durham. It is said that the 
original grant included what is now the 
town of Alton. 

Mr. Randall was the second minister to 
locate in the town, Nathaniel Porter, D. D., 
a Congregationalist, having been his prede- 
cessor. Doctor Porter served awhile as 
chaplain in the Revolutionary army, but on 
returning demanded that the people pay him 
the same as though he had not been absent. 
They regarded the demand as unjust; and 
for this, or other reasons, he resigned. 

While Mr. Porter was in New Durham 
the people built a meeting-house. This be- 
came a part of Mr. Randall's New Durham 

[60] 



Benjamin Randall 

inheritance. Since Randall's time it has 
been remodeled into a town house, and as 
such it still stands. Mr. Randall located his 
home on what is called " The Ridge." 

This elevation covers a panoramic view, 
combining great beauty and grandeur. The 
western outlook is somewhat limited by 
beautiful wooded hills. Away in the north, 
seme hundred miles distant, appears Mount 
Washington, with his head towering among 
the clouds, and looking down with undis- 
puted majesty upon his humbler fellows, 
which, as sentinels, stand about him. 

The intervening space is beautifully di- 
versified with hills and dales, hamlets and 
villages, running waters and lakes. To the 
southeast the prospect stretches as far as 
the eye can reach, giving a view of the lower 
towns. And at favorable times the view 
covers a long reach of the coast and ships 
far out at sea. 

In his arrangements with the citizens of 
New Durham, Mr. Randall gave his first 
recorded protest against the legal mode of 

[61] 



Benjamin Randall 

settling ministers then in vogue. He would 
have no man taxed or compelled to contrib- 
ute for his support. He would have every- 
thing pertaining to worship and religious 
support left to the volition of the people. 

For the accomplishment of this end he 
had determined to do what he could. 
Though only one, his voice should be heard 
and his example set in that direction. We 
are by no means to infer by this that he ig- 
nored the teachings of the Scriptures re- 
specting the support of the gospel ministry. 
But rather, like Paul who, from present ne- 
cessity, and perhaps more from the correct- 
ive power of example, wrought, in a few 
cases, at his handicraft, so Mr. Randall de- 
cided upon his present course simply as a 
temporary matter, to be changed as Provi- 
dence might indicate. 

Mr. Randall had a good trade, and later 
a small farm. To one or both of these he 
resorted as necessity required, but so man- 
aged as to secure time for study and ex- 
tensive evangelistic work. 

[62] 



IX 

CALLED TO ANSWER AS TO DOCTRINE 
1778-1779 

DURING 1778, in connection with his 
local labors, Mr. Randall preached to 
some extent in other places. Revivals at- 
tended his efforts, especially in Gilmanton, 
Loudon, and Canterbury. In connection 
with these many were converted, of whom 
some entered the ministry. 

But, though settled in a place combining 
such physical attractions, congenial associa- 
tions, and the witness of God's approval, 
Mr. Randall was not exempt from harass- 
ing conditions. He was doomed to feel, as 
never before, the cutting force of the Ian- 
guage by which the psalmist gave expres- 
sion to some of his experiences : " It was 
not an enemy that reproached me; then I 
could have borne it: neither was it he that 
hated me that did magnify himself against 

[63] 



Benjamin Randall 

me; then I would have hid myself from him. 
But it was thou, a man mine equal. We took 
sweet counsel together, and walked unto the 
house of God in company." 

Up to this time, within the sphere of Mr. 
Randall's acquaintance, the Baptists had 
moved forward in one united band, cherish- 
ing a common interest in the promotion of 
their general cause. They had all shared 
alike in the odium that the intolerant spirit 
of the age was accustomed to heap upon 
those dissenting from the dominant sect, 
and were all feeling the rigor of unjust 
religious laws. This outside pressure had 
tended to drive them together, and cement 
their hearts more firmly in the bonds of 
Christian affection. 

But that good-fellowship was not to con- 
tinue. For while some, like Randall, ad- 
hered to the doctrine of free grace for all 
who would accept salvation, others held the 
doctrine that God, by his sovereign will, had 
determined that, while a certain number 
must be saved, others, both adults and in- 

[64] 



Benjamin Randall 

fants, must be lost, and all — as they would 
contend — for the glory of God! Some 
would preach that there were infants in hell, 
not a span long ! 

The extremes of Calvinism, as above de- 
scribed, had now, to some extent, crept into 
the Baptist denomination, especially in New 
England. It does not appear, however, that 
this doctrine had, as yet, been made a matter 
of controversy; at least, not in Randall's 
circle. We do not learn that up to this time 
he had said anything about these distinctive 
views, but we infer that he had passed them 
quietly by. It is probable that Randall's 
mind was crowded with the ideas of salva- 
tion full, free, and possible to all, and the 
importance of offering that salvation to the 
largest number, in the least possible time. 

The first attack on Mr. Randall was by an 
aged minister, who called on him publicly to 
state why he did not preach the distinctive 
views of Calvin. His laconic answer was, 
" Because I do not believe them." " Then," 
Mr. Randall says, " he fell into a discussion 

[65] 



Benjamin Randall 

with me upon the matter. But it only served 
to set us farther apart." The date of this 
interview was probably March, 1779. 

This attack necessarily brought the sub- 
ject before Mr. Randall's mind as never be- 
fore, drawing him into a closer study of the 
points in dispute, and to a more careful sur- 
vey of the whole system. This resulted in a 
clearer and deeper conviction that what he 
had preached was the truth. 

But still he found certain texts, notably 
in Romans, that he could not explain quite 
to his own satisfaction. Yet, seeing that the 
whole tenor of those passages was in his 
favor, he, like a rational man, concluded 
that when correctly understood these Scrip- 
tures must be found in harmony with the 
doctrine of free salvation, and that their 
Calvinistic construction arose from a false 
system of philosophy. He says: 

The more they disputed with me on 
these points, the stronger I grew in my sen- 
timents; for it drove me to searching the 
Scriptures with greater diligence, and to 

[66] 



Benjamin Randall 

pray more earnestly to God for a correct 
understanding of their meaning. 

In July, 1779, Mr. Randall was summoned 
before a meeting, held for the purpose, at a 
Baptist church in Lower Gilmanton, to an- 
swer for his alleged doctrinal errors. He 
there met his inquisitors during a two days' 
debate. But so clearly and forcibly did he 
sustain his views that all combined could 
not confute his arguments. At the close, 
his most prominent and zealous accuser 
thus proclaimed : " I have no fellowship for 
Brother Randall in his principles. ,, To this 
Mr. Randall replied : 

It makes no difference to me by whom 
I am disowned, so long as the Lord owns 
me. And now let him be God who answers 
by fire, and that people be his people whom 
he owns and blesses. 

A little later Mr. Randall was again ar- 
raigned, with Daniel Lord, at a public meet- 
ing in Madbury, to answer for what some 

[67} 



Benjamin Randall 

called his wrong sentiments, to which he 
briefly alludes in his journal thus: 

They had us in a great meeting-house, 
before a large congregation, and disputed 
with us as long as they saw fit. Then they 
let us go without owning us or disowning 
us. I applied to the church to which I be- 
longed for dismission, but they would not 
grant it. Neither, to my knowledge, did 
they ever appoint a committee to labor with 
me, or put me under censure — so they let us 
alone. 

Here note: Mr. Randall was not expelled 
from the Baptist denomination. 

Thus harassed, Mr. Randall found him- 
self in an undesirable situation. But he 
could not violate his convictions of truth and 
consent to preach Calvinism. Hence, he 
saw no alternative but to follow Paul's ex- 
ample in regard to Barnabas — step aside 
from these ultra-Calvinists, and pursue the 
path which he believed to be divinely marked 
out for his own footsteps. 

But, in making this move, it is evident 

[6S] 



Benjamin Randall 

that he had no purpose or anticipation of 
founding a separate sect. He still claimed 
a place in the Baptist ranks, and full loyalty 
to Baptist principles. He was fully opposed 
to any division then, and until several years 
later, when it seemed a necessity. 

It was one of the greatest trials of Mr. 
Randall's life that anything should have 
occurred to strain the sympathetic relations 
between himself and his former brethren. 
Surely no just reason could be produced 
why he, and those of like views, should at 
that time leave the Baptist fold. They were 
not the aggressors, and could claim a clear 
right of possession by inheritance. 

Mr. Randall and those of like faith were 
cherishing views over which no controversy 
had arisen for many centuries after the 
dawn of the Christian era ; views too, which 
were held and taught by the General Bap- 
tists of England, the early Baptist churches 
of our Southern States, Rhode Island, Con- 
necticut, and more or less in the Middle 
States. The West was not then developed. 

[69] 



Benjamin Randall 

It is believed by those whose opinions 
command respect, that hyper-Calvinism 
was especially assertive at this time in New 
Hampshire and Maine, and that the doc- 
trines held and preached by Mr. Randall 
would not have been antagonized if pro- 
claimed in any other section of our country. 

James A. Howe, D. D., late Dean of Bates 
College Divinity School, was a Free Baptist 
representative at the World's Parliament of 
Religions, held in connection with the Co- 
lumbian Exposition, at Chicago, in 1893, 
and presented to that parliament a summar- 
ized history of the Free Baptists. A para- 
graph of this has fitting place in this connec- 
tion. Doctor Howe says : 

The first Baptist church recognized in 
English history was of the General or Free 
Baptist order, and antedated the first Par- 
ticular Baptist church by a score of years. 
For a long period the General Baptists con- 
tinued the larger and more influential part 
of English Baptists, and therefore we should 
expect that, among the earliest Baptist 

[70] 



V 



Benjamin Randall 

churches in America, no small number would 
be of this persuasion; as, in fact, they were; 
the church planted by Roger Williams being 
properly reckoned as the first. With nu- 
merous churches centrally placed, they gave 
early promise of a large development in our 
country, a promise that only needed fulfil- 
ment to have taken away any occasion for 
the rise of the Free Baptists as a separate 
people. But this golden opportunity was 
not improved. 



[71] 



X 



IF WISDOM AND COMITY HAD DOMINATED 
" PERHAPS THEY WOULDN'T " 

THE Rev. Doctor Brierly, in writing of 
the providential closing and opening 
of doors, though referring to the experience 
of others, describes the crisis that Mr. Ran- 
dall had reached. He says : 

How often do we seem, in our private 
fortunes, to be brought to a loose end ! Some 
source of supply has been stopped; some 
door of career has suddenly been slammed in 
our face. The well-defined track we had fol- 
lowed has all at once disappeared. We are 
faced with the wilderness, wherein we must 
strike a road of our own. Most of us who 
have lived any time in the world have had 
a touch of that experience. It is one of the 
greatest tests of character. We have been 
good enough for routine; what good are we 
for this crisis of the unexpected? 

It is here that strong men prove their 
strength. How often has that moment 

[72] 



Benjamin Randall 

proved the starting-point of mightiest 
things! It was so with Wesley when he 
found himself in hopeless conflict with the 
Anglican authorities, and he must choose 
some other way. And with General Booth, 
his true successor, when on that fateful 
morning he left the New Connection Con- 
ference, his terms rejected, his career as one 
of its ministers closed, and himself in the 
face of a new, untried world. Spurgeon 
had his moment when, by the strangest of 
accidents, he missed a collegiate training. 
But these men " made good." 

When Whitelaw Reid was American am- 
bassador to Great Britain he was very popu- 
lar with the highest social and political cir- 
cles. On one occasion, when he was dining 
as a guest in common with the high-titled, 
including King Edward, one present had the 
bad taste to say, addressing his remarks to 
the ambassador: "The American colonies 
belonged to England, and had no right to 
establish a separate government." For a 
moment the breathless attention of all pres- 
ent centered on Mr. Reid. But his diplo- 

[73] 



Benjamin Randall 

macy was equal to the occasion. He cour- 
teously responded: "If King George had 
been as wise as his royal great-grandson/' 
bowing low to Edward, "perhaps they 
wouldn't." 

Now, if any are of opinion that those of 
Free Baptist sentiments ought not to have 
established a separate organization, it might 
be answered : If those represented by the 
ministers who tried Mr. Randall for heresy 
had been as wise and courteous as the lead- 
ing men of the present Baptist body, " per- 
haps they wouldn't." 

However that may be, they did, and no 
just biography of Benjamin Randall can be 
written without giving at least a passing 
statement, not only of the fact, but of the 
reasons why. But it will be a help to mu- 
tual charity if it be remembered that those 
were times which, in all matters pertaining 
to religious difference, polemics had the 
ascendency over comity. 

Now we make haste to rejoice with rep- 
resentatives of high Baptist authority that 

[74] 



Benjamin Randall 

" the reasons why " are dying, if not al- 
ready dead issues. From an editorial which 
appeared in a June, 1905, issue of " The 
Watchman," a Baptist paper, the following 
paragraph is selected: 

At the time of the separation from the 
Baptists by Benjamin Randall in 1780, the 
controversy was wholly about Calvinism. 
Mr. Randall was accused of preaching 
anti-Calvinistic doctrines; and the number 
of his followers increased until, in 1827, 
the Freewill Baptist General Conference 
was founded. It is only necessary to men- 
tion this controversy to show how obsolete 
it is to-day. The Freewill Baptists dropped 
the middle word from their title years ago, 
and are now known as simply Free Baptists. 
And there are probably as many among Bap- 
tists who would refuse to be called Calvin- 
ists as there are among the Free Baptists. 
This, the original cause of separation, has 
simply taken itself out of the way, and calls 
for no consideration whatever. 

At a meeting of the Joint Committee of 
Baptists and Free Baptists, held at Brook- 

[75] 



Benjamin Randall 

lyn, November 22, 1905, Nathan E. Wood, 
D. D., president of Newton Theological 
Seminary, was chosen chairman. In the 
course of his introductory remarks, Presi- 
dent Wood said : 

In spirit the Baptist churches were never 
more tolerant than to-day. At the time 
when Free Baptists went away from us 
hyper-Calvinism prevailed, and Free Bap- 
tists had grounds for going away, and ought 
to have gone. But we have no hyper-Cal- 
vinism now, but a very moderate Calvinism. 
On the matter of communion there has been 
no great change in the last twenty years. 
On immersion we stand as rigid as ever we 
did. The Baptists made a tremendous fight 
on baptism, and close communion was an 
expression of it. 

The editorial referred to in a preceding 
paragraph has this respecting communion : 

It is doubtful if there is a Baptist church 
in the North to-day which would refuse to 
allow a Christian, who wishes to do so, to 
partake of the Lord's Supper with it 

[76] 



Benjamin Randall 

In the last chapter of Vedder's very ex- 
cellent " History of the Baptists " we find 
these statements: 

Though Baptists have thus powerfully 
influenced other bodies of Christians, it 
would be a mistake to infer that they have 
themselves escaped modifications in belief 
and practice through the influence of other 
Christian brethren. That both Calvinism 
and Arminianism have been so modified as 
to bear little relation to the systems once 
passing under their names, is so well under- 
stood, and so little likely to be questioned, 
that it is not worth while to waste space in 
more than a statement of the fact. Each has 
reacted on the other, and between the latest 
statements of the two opposing systems a 
critical student can discern little more than 
a difif erence of emphasis. 



177] 



XI 



THE ORDINATION OF MR. RANDALL 
1780 

AS one of the results of the doctrinal 
discussions, to which reference has 
been made, early in 1779, a church, em- 
bodied by Elder Edward Lock, composed of 
people in Loudon and Canterbury, New 
Hampshire, declared themselves Arminian. 
The church had largely or wholly arisen 
from Mr. Randall's labors in that vicinity 
the previous year. 

In August of the same year the brethren 
at Crown Point, who had stood as a branch 
of the Berwick church, under Elder Hooper, 
embodied themselves into a church and also 
declared themselves Arminian. Elder To- 
zier Lord, having been previously ordained 
at Lebanon, Maine, by Dr. Samuel Shepard 
and others, espoused the free-grace cause, 
withdrew from the Calvinistic church, and 

[78] 



Benjamin Randall 

in the same fall became a member of the 
Crown Point church as its pastor. 

In March, 1780, Mr. Randall presented 
himself and was received to membership 
in the Crown Point church. During this 
spring season a precious work of grace was 
in progress at New Durham. The time 
having arrived when the interests of the 
cause demanded the ordination of Mr. Ran- 
dall, it was regarded as a special providence 
that the way for this step had been pre- 
pared by the establishment of those two 
Free churches. 

It appears that the idea of the brethren 
was, that to render an ordination valid be- 
yond all question, at least two regularly or- 
dained ministers, in good standing in some 
church, should lay hands on the candidate; 
while lay brethren might properly assist. 
True, they could point to precedents where, 
in very urgent, exceptional cases, even 
among those who were sticklers for good 
form, one duly ordained might, with lay 
assistants, do the work of ordination. But 

[79] 



Benjamin Randall 

here were two churches properly constituted, 
with their pastors duly qualified. Hence, 
they were prepared to comply with best ac- 
cepted usages for induction to the gospel 
ministry. 

In arranging for the ordination of Mr. 
Randall, the Crown Point church consist- 
ently took the lead. The time agreed upon 
was Wednesday, April 5, 1780; place, New 
Durham. The Crown Point church chose 
its pastor and one lay delegate to attend, and 
invited the Loudon and Canterbury church 
to do the same, which it did. 

The council met on the day appointed and 
proceeded to their work, setting apart the 
candidate in due form to the work of an 
evangelist. Elder Lord preached the ser- 
mon from Acts 13 : 2, 3: "As they minis- 
tered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy 
Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul 
for the work whereunto I have called them. 
And when they had fasted and prayed, and 
laid their hands on them, they sent them 
away." Lord also gave the charge. Lock 

[80] 



Benjamin Randall 

gave the hand of fellowship and probably 
offered the prayer of consecration. Thus, 
so far as ecclesiastical forms were con- 
cerned, Mr. Randall was duly qualified for 
the work of the gospel ministry. 

The title " elder " is variously used in the 
Bible. The same is also true respecting its 
use in some modern religious bodies. In the 
Baptist denomination, in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, more commonly than now, it was given 
to gospel ministers. This title, which was 
given to Mr. Randall by virtue of his ordi- 
nation, and which he carried and honored 
for thirty years, may in the following pages 
be prefixed to his name. 



[81] 



XII 

NEW DURHAM CHURCH FOUNDED 
1780 

SOON after his ordination, Elder Ran- 
dall called a meeting of his New Dur- 
ham brethren, preparatory to organizing 
them into church relationship. After duly 
deliberating upon the matter, it was agreed 
that they thus organize and appoint Mr. 
Randall a committee to draft the requisite 
articles of faith and covenant, and present 
the same at a future meeting. 

In accordance with due notice, that meet- 
ing occurred June 30, 1780. After devo- 
tional services, the first business was the re- 
port of Elder Randall on Articles of Faith 
and Church Covenant. These articles were 
then read, intelligently considered, and de- 
liberately adopted. This done, the candi- 
dates, four men and three women, came for- 
ward, signed the covenant, and as an ex- 

[82] 



Benjamin Randall 

pression of their fellowship and union, 
joined hands. Then Elder Randall pre- 
sented the sacred Scriptures to them as their 
only rule of faith and practice, extended to 
them the hand of fellowship, and while all 
knelt offered a prayer that the Spirit of God 
might consecrate them to his service. 

Though not accepting any prefix to the 
Baptist name till twenty years later, thus 
was organized in due form the first Free 
Baptist church. 

The articles of faith then adopted are lost 
beyond recovery. They were written on the 
first leaf of the records, which leaf has been 
torn off. But when, by whom, or for what 
purpose, it will probably never be known. 
While regretting the loss of these articles, 
we have the satisfaction of knowing sub- 
stantially the doctrines they contained. 
Elder Randall stamped those doctrines in- 
delibly upon the minds of his people. The 
fathers stated and restated them until, with 
little expansion, they were published in their 
present form. As the same is true of the 

[83] 



Benjamin Randall 

church covenant, though that is preserved, 
neither need be recorded here. 

The new church did not choose officers till 
early in September, when others had united. 
Then a full Board was chosen, with Elder 
Randall as pastor. Respecting the pastor, 
it was understood that he should be at lib- 
erty to go on evangelistic tours as he might 
interpret the will of God. 

They entered into an agreement that they 
would maintain weekly meetings of a devo- 
tional nature. These should be sustained by 
voluntary prayer, singing, and exhortation 
by the brethren and sisters present. All 
were expected to attend when practicable, 
and each take some part in the services. 
Should the pastor at any time be absent 
from public worship, and no other minister 
be present to supply his place, the social- 
meeting plan was to be operative. Thereby 
regular worship was to be maintained each 
Sabbath, whether a preacher was present or 
not. 

In this arrangement was evinced much 

[84] 



Benjamin Randall 

true Christian philosophy. Mr. Randall 
would not only have a God-called and a God- 
furnished ministry, but he would also bring 
up the laity of the church to a high plane of 
Christian living and Christian activity. 

They also entered into agreement to hold 
a meeting on a special day of each month; 
hence the name Monthly Meeting. Unless 
prevented by what would keep him from 
ordinary business, each member was held in 
duty bound to attend, and there give an out- 
line of his religious experience during the 
previous month, or interim since last attend- 
ance. At the close of any Monthly Meeting 
appropriate church business might have con- 
sideration. 

The establishment of the New Durham 
church laid the foundation of the Free Bap- 
tist denomination. But why not regard the 
Canterbury and Loudon church, or the one 
at Crown Point, the foundation church? 
True, one had withdrawn from the Calvin- 
istic body and adopted free sentiments, and 
the other had been founded on similar prin- 

[85]. 



Benjamin Randall 

ciples. But both stood as independent or- 
ganizations, without connecting bonds with 
any other. And neither was a nucleus 
around which accretions should be made. 
Both of these churches soon lost their visi- 
bility, while the New Durham church be- 
came a nucleus around which other churches 
soon gathered. Hence, we must ever regard 
the gathering at New Durham as the mother 
church. 



[86] 



XIII 

THE SCRIPTURES OPENED 
I780 

THOUGH highly prospered in his work, 
Mr. Randall experienced no little dis- 
tress of mind for a time, because of the 
alienation of his former brethren. His at- 
tachment was so strong that his separation 
from them left a deep wound in his heart. 
He greatly felt the need of fraternal asso- 
ciations and fraternal counsel. 

Then, again, he would suffer great per- 
plexity respecting those texts which he 
could not construe to his own satisfaction. 
He knew they must harmonize with the 
general tenor of the Scriptures, but this was 
not fully satisfactory. The question would 
often arise, " What do these texts mean ? " 
Then, again, the feeling, " I must know." 
But how could he obtain the knowledge? 
He knew of no living person to whom he 

[87] 



Benjamin Randall 

might resort for aid or comfort. As to 
books, in the meager supply at that time, 
the Bible almost alone taught a full and free 
salvation. 

In this extremity, Mr. Randall could go to 
none but his Bible and his God, with any 
hope of finding a solution to the questions 
that burdened him. To these sources of 
information he turned with all possible con- 
centration of thought and devoutness of 
feeling. Here we have an illustration of 
the proverb that " Man's extremity is God's 
opportunity." But we will let Mr. Ran- 
dall tell of the very extraordinary experi- 
ence through which he passed : 

Some time in July (1780), being in great 
trial of mind because of such texts, and 
desiring solitude, I walked to a remote 
place on my farm, where I had a field of 
corn, which I entered. My soul being in 
great agony, I sat down upon a rock, and 
prayed that my heavenly Father would teach 
me. All at once it seemed as if the Lord 
denied my request. This increased my trial, 
and I said, "Lord, why may I not be 

[88] 



Benjamin Randall 

taught? " I then saw that my heart needed 
much purifying and refining. I said, " Lord, 
here am I, take me, and do with me as thou 
wilt." 

And oh, the flaming power that instantly 
possessed my soul! It would be impossi- 
ble to give one an adequate idea of the ex- 
perience, unless he had passed through the 
same. The power increased in my soul, 
until it stripped me of everything as to my 
affections. I tried to recollect my brethren 
and connections, but had no feeling save of 
the awful majesty of God, before whom I 
sank, as it were, into nothing. 

Then it appeared that I saw a white 
robe brought and put over me, which com- 
pletely covered me, and I appeared as white 
as snow. A perfect calm, an awful rever- 
ence pervaded my soul. A Bible was then 
presented before the eyes of my mind, and 
I heard a still, small voice saying, "Look 
therein." I looked in at the beginning of 
Genesis, and out at the close of Revelation. 

To state the remainder of this vision in 
fewer words than his account, Mr. Ran- 
dall saw the seals of those difficult texts all 

[89] 



Benjamin Randall 

unloosed, and their explanations were seen 
to be in perfect harmony with a general 
atonement and a universal call. He adds : 

My soul has never been in any trial 
about the meaning of those Scriptures since. 
After passing through this experience the 
vision was withdrawn. I came to myself 
sitting on the rock in profuse perspiration, 
and so weak I could hardly sit up. I ob- 
served the sun, and estimated that I had 
been in this exercise about an hour and a 
half; and whether in the body or out of 
the body, I never could tell. 

This experience of Mr. Randall was cer- 
tainly remarkable. The extent to which the 
Holy Spirit may have been operative in pro- 
ducing it will be measured by the religious 
experience of those who judge. As a help 
to correct judgment, it should be borne in 
mind that the whole trend of scriptural 
teaching is to the effect that God, in the 
economy of his grace, has made provision 
for his helpful manifestations to those 
in extremities such as Mr. Randall had 

[90] 



Benjamin Randall 

reached; and that " more things are wrought 
by prayer than this world dreams of." 

The subjoined statements of Samuel D. 
Robbins, D. D., aline with this doctrine : 

There is a communion with God in 
which the soul feels the presence of the un- 
seen One, in the profound depths of his be- 
ing, with vivid distinctness and a holy 
reverence, such as no words can describe. 
There is a state of union with God — I do 
not say often reached, yet it has been at- 
tained in this world — in which all the past 
and present and future seem reconciled, and 
eternity is won and enjoyed; and God and 
man, earth and heaven, with all their mys- 
teries, are apprehended in truth as they lie 
in the mind of the Infinite. 

Mr. Randall was sure that in that vision 
he was especially favored with divine assist- 
ance. However it may be accounted for, he 
somehow at that time obtained views on 
those Scriptures that had perplexed him, 
essentially differing from constructions then 
current, but which now have general accept- 
ance with the religious world. 

[91] 



XIV 

EVANGELISTIC WORK IN NEW HAMPSHIRE 

AND MAINE 

I780-I781 

SOON after Elder Randall's divine illu- 
mination, in response to an invitation, 
he went on a mission tour to Maine. In his 
account of it he says : 

I visited Little Falls on the Saco River, 
and there experienced a precious work of 
grace, which spread about for a number of 
miles in that region, and many came to the 
services. 

On November fifth the Little Falls friends 
wrote to the New Durham church for one 
to be sent to their aid. About the same 
time a delegate, in the person of one of their 
deacons, came from a band of professing 
Christians in Gorham, Maine, requesting the 
privilege of fellowship as a sister church 
with the New Durham brethren. 

[92] 



Benjamin Randall 

These requests were interpreted as im- 
perative calls that must not be disregarded. 
The church responded by delegating to 
their aid its pastor and Robert Boody, as 
traveling companion, who at once set off on 
their mission. As to the result of their 
Gorham visit, records are silent. But the 
visit to Little Falls resulted in strengthening 
the religious interest there, and the forma- 
tion of a church of a hundred members. 

In February, 1781, Mr. Randall, having 
received an invitation from one Jewell, a 
Baptist brother, visited Tamworth, New 
Hampshire, then but recently settled. One 
of the results of this visit was a revival in 
which a goodly number were converted and 
a church organized. This church was gath- 
ered in the westerly part of the town, about 
the region later called Stevenson's Hill. 

The same season Mr. Randall gathered 
another church in Barrington, probably in 
the section over the " Blue Hills," and ex- 
tending somewhat into Barnstead. A part 
of this locality has since been called North 

[93] 



Benjamin Randall 

Strafford. It is probable that his own 
labors had been largely instrumental in 
preparing the material for this church. As 
to who else may have preached there about 
that time we have no record. These tokens 
of divine approval greatly encouraged Mr. 
Randall, and stimulated him to increased 
zeal in his labors. His Journal holds the fol- 
lowing record : 

Early in the fall of 1781 I was deeply 
impressed with a desire to take a religious 
tour eastward as far as the Kennebec River. 
But discouraging conditions confronted me, 
it being near the close of the war and money 
scarce, of which I had but little. Then too, 
I would be a stranger in a strange land, and 
it was unusual for a minister to go about 
and preach, such being regarded with sus- 
picion on the part of many. 

At length, however, Mr. Randall's objec- 
tions were overcome, and he went, as thus 
described : 

On the last day of September I set off 
alone and traveled to Saco River, where I 

[94] 



Benjamin Randall 

found a brother willing to accompany me to 
the end of my journey. The Lord granted 
us his presence and prospered us on our way. 
The people showed us much kindness as we 
traveled. 

Mr. Randall crossed the Kennebec at 
Georgetown, and in the evening of October 
first held a meeting in that region on Ker's 
Island. The people gave respectful atten- 
tion and expressed a desire to hear him 
again. Randall complied with the request 
the next forenoon. At this meeting many 
w r ere brought under conviction, were at 
length converted, and became substantial, 
devoted Christians. 

That afternoon Mr. Randall preached his 
first sermon in Woolwich. This proved to 
be an eventful occasion. Here lived a num- 
ber of devoted Christians of free sentiments. 
They were intelligent, and withal of good 
standing in public esteem. But they had be- 
come tired of the old, lifeless religious forms 
among them, and had been earnestly pray- 
ing for some evangelist to visit them and 

[95] 



Benjamin Randall 

preach a free salvation and a heartfelt re- 
ligion. This stranger's visit seemed in an- 
swer to their prayers. His sermon, and the 
unction with which he spoke, appeared as of 
God. 

These people were much like sheep, long 
left uncared for, but now permitted to hear 
the shepherd's voice. They could hardly 
contain their joy. If at the time the Holy 
Spirit did not fall upon them, as under the 
preaching of Peter, they were made to drink 
from the cup of happiness in Christ as 
deeply as human beings may reasonably ex- 
pect to until released from earthly bondage. 

The rumors of this meeting spread ex- 
tensively the next day, and a crowd gathered 
for the next service. Mr. Randall then 
preached from Philippians 2:9:" Where- 
fore God hath highly exalted him, and given 
him a name which is above every name." 
The word seemed like fire and hammer to 
many flinty hearts. The work of grace here 
begun spread through the region with great 
power. 

[96] 



Benjamin Randall 

At the close of these meetings Mr. Ran- 
dall baptized five persons. This was a novel 
scene for that place. Though about three 
hundred were present, not more than three 
or four had ever seen a baptism adminis- 
tered by immersion. 

Returning to Parker's Island, Randall 
found the work spreading prosperously. 
After laboring here a few days, he left and 
spent the Sabbath in Woolwich, where he 
baptized a number and organized a church. 
Before leaving this region it is probable that 
Mr. Randall formed a church at George- 
town, Squam Island, and at Durham; for 
he speaks of having a church at each of 
these places soon after his return. 

Mr. Randall was absent on this eastern 
tour thirty-seven days, held forty-seven 
meetings, and traveled about four hundred 
miles. He soon left again in answer to a 
call from Gorham and Scarboro. God 
blessed his labors, especially at the latter 
place, where many were converted, baptized, 
and added to the Little Falls church. 

H [971 



Benjamin Randall 

About this time Samuel Weeks, a Baptist 
minister of East Parsonsfield, Maine, with 
his church, came out and took a stand with 
Randall. So also a body called the Gray 
and Gloucester church. 

These accessions, thus rapidly made, were 
at once a comfort and a care to Mr. Randall. 
These churches were all organized on the 
same model as at New Durham, and looked 
to the same undershepherd for general over- 
sight. Still, each stood in an independent 
state, having no connecting bonds, except 
what existed in the fact that each had em- 
braced the same general views, and taken 
the same platform in its structure. But con- 
ditions were now rapidly tending to the or- 
ganized union that soon followed. 



[98] 



XV 

QUARTERLY MEETING ORGANIZED 
1 782- 1 783 

THE year 1782 held for Elder Randall 
experiences both sad and joyous. On 
account of the long and painful sickness of 
his father-in-law, who died at his residence 
on the fourth of July, he spent the first 
several months at home and in the vicinity. 
During this time some of the churches suf- 
fered somewhat for lack of his general 
supervision. 

In the spring two emissaries of Ann Lee, 
the prophetess of Shakerism, had come from 
Watervliet, New York, then the headquar- 
ters of the cult in this country, and from 
their teachings the delusion had spread over 
portions of New Hampshire and Maine. 
All churches in the track of this delusion 
suffered from its blighting influence; but, 
for lack of pastors at that time, this was es- 

[99] 



Benjamin Randall 

pecially true of Free Baptists. Mr. Randall 
stoutly opposed this cult, exposed its errors, 
and tried to counteract its destructive work. 

But, while Free Baptist interests were 
thus attended with deep trials in some places, 
prosperity was experienced in others. This 
season a church in Gorham took its stand 
with Randall. This was a body of respect- 
able brethren, and became a strong, influen- 
tial people, and for many years sustained a 
controlling influence in that region. 

In September Mr. Randall again visited 
his Kennebec plantation, to find the work 
spreading blessedly through that entire part 
of the country. Besides meetings for wor- 
ship, he held sessions for business where 
needed. 

In October Daniel Hibbard, formerly a 
Baptist minister, but recently allied with 
Randall, wrote to New Durham from Little 
Falls for help. In answer, Randall went to 
render aid on the fourteenth of November. 
But no record is found as to the condi- 
tions or the producing cause thereof. 

[ioo] 



Benjamin Randall 

In religious matters, Randall closed the 
year 1782 much as Washington did in his 
struggle for national liberty. He had suf- 
fered reverses and achieved victories; thus 
showing that in Church as in State a cam- 
paign will have its vicissitudes. 

Early in January the brethren in Can- 
terbury and Loudon, not swept away by 
Shakerism, sent a feeling request to the 
New Durham church for aid. In response, 
the pastor and others were delegated to visit 
them. The efforts of these messengers 
tended to revive somewhat the drooping 
spirits of this almost disheartened people, 
and initial measures were taken looking to 
reorganization. 

On March second Mr. Randall was pros- 
trated by a fever which continued for more 
than two months. For a time he could not 
raise his head from his pillow, and it was 
feared by many that he would not recover. 
During this time he enjoyed the abiding 
presence and comfort of the Holy Spirit. 
His recovery was slow, being retarded, no 

[IOI] 



Benjamin Randall 

doubt, by his great anxiety for the religious 
condition of the community. But strength 
at length returned, and with it Mr. Randall 
devoted himself anew to gospel work. 

In the early part of July, on request of 
the scattered Crown Point brethren, Ran- 
dall went to their aid. He there found eleven 
desirous of coming together to work in gos- 
pel order. He reorganized them into a 
church, and as a pledge of good faith they 
signed a covenant which Randall formulated 
for their future government. 

On the twenty-sixth of September Mr. 
Randall started for another eastern tour. 
He visited the churches at Little Falls, Wool- 
wich, Dunston, Georgetown, and Edgecomb, 
finding them in a flourishing condition. 
They had received large additions and were 
steadfast in the faith. Proceeding still far- 
ther east, he preached at New Castle, on the 
Damariscotta River. Then, crossing the 
river, he held meetings in Bristol and on 
Rutherford's Isle. All these efforts were 
attended with glorious results. 

[102] 



Benjamin Randall 



Homeward bound, Randall stopped for a 
night at Major Larabee's, on New Meadow's 
River in Brunswick, and there held an eve- 
ning meeting which was well attended. In 
response to the solicitations o£ the people, he 
held several meetings at different places in 
that vicinity, at which professed Christians 
were revived and many souls were con- 
verted. 

On arriving at Little Falls, Randall met 
several brethren in conference respecting 
best methods for future work. He had be- 
come satisfied that the churches, for their 
fullest development and greatest usefulness, 
needed to enter into a combination for mu- 
tual help. But what the combination should 
be, and how it could be brought about, was 
not so clear. He could find no precedents 
suited to his needs. 

The nation was just securing its release 
from monarchical rule to government by the 
people. The public mind was filled with 
democratic principles. These principles were 
taking form for the government of the new 

[103] 



Benjamin Randall 

nation. Being loyal to his country, Ran- 
dall could but be averse to anything in re- 
ligious government contrary to the inde- 
pendence of the churches. The importance 
of candid deliberation and wise planning 
was felt by all present. 

This conference was made up of Ran- 
dall, Pelatiah Tingley, Daniel Hibbard, and 
several laymen. As the names of these two 
ministers, now associated with Randall, will 
appear occasionally in connection with the 
denominational development, it is fitting 
that they have more than a passing men- 
tion. 

Daniel Hibbard was one of the first Bap- 
tist ministers to be ordained in Maine. But 
on acquaintance with Free Baptist principles 
he allied himself with Mr. Randall. 

Pelatiah Tingley was graduated from 
Yale College in 1761, studied theology two 
years, and then commenced to preach with 
the Congregationalists. Having preached 
over a year at Gorham, Maine, as a candi- 
date, he gave a negative answer to the invi- 

[104] 



Benjamin Randall 

tation of the town to settle there in 1776. 
Later, he conducted religious services at 
New Market, New Hampshire. It was 
summer, very warm, and the sanctuary was 
ventilated for comfort. While he was read- 
ing his sermon, a gust of wind carried a 
part of his manuscript sailing through an 
open window. This proved to be an impor- 
tant event of his life. He retired from that 
meeting with the resolution never again to 
attempt preaching till he had attained to a 
gospel that winds could not take froiji him. 
He sought God with prayer and tears till he 
received a baptism of the Holy Spirit. On 
careful study, Mr. Tingley became con- 
vinced that sprinkling is not baptism, and 
that none but true believers are fit subjects. 
Thus he came out a Baptist. He embraced 
the doctrinal sentiments of Randall, and was 
a factor much needed at the time, especially 
in the work of organization. 

But to return to the work of the confer- 
ence. At this session it is probable that Mr. 
Randall presented a plan of organization 

' [105] 



Benjamin Randall 

and suggested a name for the body, The 
plan provided for the combination in one 
body of all the Free Baptist churches; that 
this body should meet four times a year, and 
therefore be called a Quarterly Meeting. It 
should consist of delegates and others from 
the constituent churches. It should discuss 
and devise ways and means leading to united 
church effort and the highest degree of 
efficiency. 

It was agreed that these plans be laid be- 
fore the respective churches for their con- 
sideration. Their conclusions were to be 
reported at a meeting to be held on Satur- 
day, the seventh day of December, when, if 
reports were favorable, the movement would 
be fully inaugurated. 

Mr. Randall was absent on this eastern 
tour fifty-seven days, traveled about five 
hundred miles, and attended sixty-one meet- 
ings. 

At the time appointed the delegates met 
at Little Falls. Enthusiastic approvals of 
the plan were received from the churches. 

[106] 



Benjamin Randall 

The meeting organized by the choice of 
Randall for moderator and Tingley for clerk. 
After deliberate consideration it was de- 
cided to adopt the plan and proceed to the 
organization of the body it contemplated. 
It was agreed that the body should be known 
as the Baptist Quarterly Meeting. 

At this permanent organization Randall 
was chosen Quarterly Meeting clerk, which 
position he held for life. The regular ses- 
sions were to be held on the first Saturday 
of specified months, as follows: March, in 
New Gloucester; June, in New Durham; 
September, in Woolwich; and December, in 
Little Falls. This was to be the order till 
otherwise arranged. 

At this session some needed advice was 
given to the Little Falls church, and Joseph 
Judkins was licensed to preach. 

By request, an adjourned session was held 
at Dunston, December tenth, and with other 
business, the brethren there were organized 
into a church. The session also issued a cir- 
cular letter to all the constituent churches, 

[107] 



Benjamin Randall 

signed by Randall and Tingley. This letter 
urged upon the churches local union, co- 
operation with the Quarterly Meeting, and 
watchfulness against religious delusions. 
Here they evidently had in mind Shakerism. 

Quarterly Meeting arrangements with the 
Free Baptists have since that time undergone 
some important modifications. But, though 
this was a day of small things, its work is 
not to be despised. It was the beginning of 
an organized system which culminated in 
the General Conference. And it has been 
conceded by those whose opinions command 
respect, that, all things considered, Free 
Baptists have one of the finest systems of 
ecclesiastical government extant. 

Some conception of Mr. Randall's early 
labors may be gathered from the fact that, 
during the first three and a half years of his 
ministry, in addition to local work and 
broadcast seed-sowing, he had organized 
thirteen churches of the Free Baptist faith, 
and drawn to his side four ordained minis- 
ters — Lord, Weeks, Hibbard, and Tingley. 

[108] 



Benjamin Randall 

These were all men of intelligence, consecra- 
tion, and power. They were all well fur- 
nished for the work to which the Master was 
calling them. 

Furthermore, those churches contained a 
goodly number among the laity who were 
intelligent and fairly well educated for the 
times, whose powers were in process of de- 
velopment. Through consistent living, the 
study of the Scriptures, and the constant 
exercise of their " gifts," they were becom- 
ing well qualified for the duties of the min- 
istry, to which they were at length admitted. 
Many others of the private membership 
were, in the same way, advancing to greater 
efficiency as Christian workers. 



[109] 



XVI 

GETTING TOGETHER — CHRISTIAN COMITY 
1 784- 1 786 

THE new year, 1784, found Mr. Ran- 
dall confined to his bed because of sick- 
ness. But his energy and interest in the 
churches prompted him to resume work 
while yet quite feeble. With Isaac Town- 
send as companion, he attended the March 
session of the Quarterly Meeting, which 
was held at New Gloucester. The attend- 
ance was large, and the constituent churches 
reported hearty approval of the Quarterly 
Meeting plan and organization. 

As this was the first regular session since 
the organization of the body, and as its 
order of procedure was for many years re- 
garded as a model, it seems fitting that it 
have a somewhat detailed report. It ap- 
pears that Mr. Randall had, with character- 
istic forecast, worked out a program for the 

[no] 



Benjamin Randall 

session which, subject to such changes as 
the nature of the case might suggest, was 
adopted by the conference. And here we 
have it : 

Quarterly Meeting Program 

Saturday Afternoon 

i. Devotional. Consisting of prayer, 
singing, and if time favors, exhortation. 

2. Choice of officers. Moderator, clerk, 
and committees. 

3. Letters and verbal reports from con- 
stituent churches. 

4. Examination of members as to doc- 
trine, fellowship, and so forth. 

5. Efforts to restore harmony, where such 
efforts may be needed. 

Saturday Evening 

Preaching, followed by exhortation and 
general worship. 

Sunday Services 

Morning. Prayer and general devotions. 
Forenoon. Preaching. 

[mi 



Benjamin Randall 

Afternoon. Preaching. 

Evening. Preaching. 

Devotional services immediately prece- 
ding or immediately following sermons, as 
conditions may suggest. 

Monday 

Devotional. Unfinished business. New 
business named in letters or otherwise pre- 
sented. 

All business interspersed with much 
prayer, singing, and devotions. 

It appears here that while Mr. Randall, 
for economy of time and the discipline of 
good order, would have these assemblies 
governed by prearrangement of a general 
nature, he would not foist upon them inflexi- 
ble rules. The wisdom of this system was 
proved by its harmonious working, with 
slight changes to suit conditions, for a whole 
century. 

Another measure for the benefit of the 
churches, inaugurated at this session, and 
continued for many years, was the issuance 

[112] 



Benjamin Randall 

of a Quarterly Meeting circular epistle. 
This method of reaching the entire member- 
ship had its origin in the fertile brain of 
Mr. Randall. 

The quarterly letter generally contained 
a summarized statement of session proceed- 
ings, any special business requiring the at- 
tention of the local church, and doctrinal 
statements or corrections, with many injunc- 
tions to hearty piety and right living. Print- 
ing-presses were not then so generally dis- 
tributed over the country as now, and tran- 
scripts were made by pen. Randall was a 
ready writer, and was not only author, for 
the most part, of these letters, but probably 
made most of the reproductions, although 
as churches increased and burdens multi- 
plied, a part of the clerical work fell to Ting- 
ley and others. As soon as possible after 
the Quarterly Meeting session a copy of the 
epistle was sent to each of the constituent 
churches, to be read in the presence of the 
next assembly. The unifying influence of 
these epistles, in fellowship, doctrine, and 

1 [ii3] 



Benjamin Randall 

church methods, was great, but cannot be 
measured by exact calculation. 

The September Quarterly Meeting was 
held at Woolwich. Randall served as 
moderator and Tingley as clerk. After 
routine business had been disposed of, 
Shakerism, which was still proving rather 
troublesome, both in New Hampshire and 
in Maine, was considered. It was agreed 
that in all the constituent churches, October 
thirteenth should be observed as a day of 
fasting and prayer, " that God would sweep 
away this delusion by the breath of his 
Spirit." 

This session proved a rich blessing to the 
cause of religion in the east. There, breth- 
ren of similar religious sentiments met, who 
had been strangers to each other and un- 
aware of what was being accomplished for 
Christ in the general field. There they were 
enabled to take larger views of Christianity 
than ever before, and could unitedly devise 
broader plans for work in which mutual 
helpfulness might result. 

[114] 



Benjamin Randall 

A special feature of this session was the 
alertness of the churches in conforming to 
the arrangement of reporting by letter. The 
pile of these letters before us would make 
an interesting chapter of church history, as 
illustrative of the times in which they were 
written. But the determined limits of this 
work will admit of only a summarized state- 
ment. They were interesting as exponents 
of Christian union, biblical sentiment, gos- 
pel order, and intelligent formulation. Fur- 
thermore, they gave a hint as to the general 
intelligence and culture of the people who 
then embraced the doctrines that Mr. Ran- 
dall held and taught. 

During the year 1784 Mr. Randall trav- 
eled in his religious work over a thousand 
miles, attended more than three hundred 
meetings of worship, besides those of busi- 
ness, and preached on an average a sermon 
each day. 

As may be seen later, 1785 was a busy 
year for Mr. Randall. In addition to his 
accustomed visits to the churches and at- 

[us] 



Benjamin Randall 

tendance at Quarterly Meetings, he pushed 
his work into regions beyond. 

A few cases of discipline required atten- 
tion, but for the most part the churches 
were orderly, vigorous, and cheered by in- 
creased membership. Quarterly Meeting 
sessions were well attended, their proceed- 
ings harmonious, and their influence bene- 
ficial to communities entertaining them. In 
some cases, revivals beginning in these meet- 
ings spread to adjacent towns. 

In one session the question was asked as 
to the relations of the ruling elder to the 
church and ministry. The answer given at 
the next session was that the ruling elder 
is a church officer between a deacon and a 
teaching elder, or pastor; that he might con- 
duct general religious meetings, and, by con- 
sent of the local church, administer the or- 
dinances in the absence of a teaching elder 
or pastor. During the early years of our 
denomination, the ruling elder filled an im- 
portant niche in church economy. But as 
the instalment of settled pastors became 

[116] 



Benjamin Randall 

more common, his office, with its necessity, 
ceased. 

During this year Joseph Boody was or- 
dained a ruling elder, and John Whitney a 
teaching elder. Also the New Canaan, later 
Lincolnville, church was received. 

A question submitted to the September 
session was, " Is it proper to commune with 
one who, though not having been immersed, 
gives evidence of a change of heart, and 
daily leads a Christian life?" Answer by 
unanimous vote, less one, " It is." 

Among the good things in one of the 
general epistles this year, ministers are ex- 
horted to watchfulness, humility, and purity 
of life. In another, the unconverted are 
warned against a hope of salvation simply 
on the ground that its possibility had been 
provided through Christ. In referring to 
this so-called liberal doctrine the statement 
runs thus: 

This is a tenet we fear has destroyed 
its thousands, though it is a groundless 
doctrine, and can easily be confuted by the 

[117] 



Benjamin Randall 

Scriptures. The plain assertion is before 
us, that, " Except ye be converted ... ye 
shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." 

Mr. Randall closes his record for 1785 
with this sentence: 

I have traveled this year about twelve 
hundred miles in religious work, and at- 
tended over five hundred meetings. 

At the opening of 1786 the Randall family 
was saddened by the sickness and death of 
Mrs. Oram, Mrs. Randall's mother, who 
died in that home February tenth. 

A little later Mr. Randall visited the 
churches in western Maine. He found some 
of these churches suffering from certain 
discordant elements, some enjoying revival 
grace, and others rejoicing over recent ac- 
cessions. By all he was heartily welcomed, 
and to all he preached the Lord's gospel with 
freedom. 

Some business of special interest was con- 
sidered and transacted at the June session, 
held at New Durham. Measures were taken 

[n8] 



Benjamin Randall 

to create what, for the lack of a better name, 
might be called an emergency fund. The 
proposed fund was not intended for minis- 
terial support, but to meet other ordinary 
and needful expenses, among which would 
be the aiding of any brother or sister who, 
by sickness or otherwise, might fall in need. 
Such a fund was raised; it may have further 
mention later. 

The Calvinistic churches of New Hamp- 
shire and Maine had formed a union some- 
what similar to that into which Mr. Ran- 
dall's churches had entered, only its asso- 
ciated meetings, instead of being quarterly, 
were held but once a year, and the body was 
called the New Hampshire Baptist Associa- 
tion. 

At this session it was agreed by unani- 
mous vote, save one, to send an initial letter 
to the Baptist Association, which, if the 
members of that body should be like-minded, 
might lead to continued correspondence. As 
that letter is of interest as showing the 
spirit of Christian comity held and exercised 

[119] 



Benjamin Randall 

thus early by our fathers, a transcript of it, 
slightly abridged, is subjoined: 

To the New Hampshire Association. 
Dearly Beloved in the Lord : 

Feeling our hearts expand with love for 
the world, and with complacency toward all, 
of every name and denomination, where we 
find the divine image, we hereby testify our 
prayer for your prosperity. 

We wish that all shyness, evil surmi- 
sing, evil thinking in any of your hearts, or 
our own, against our neighbors or brethren, 
may be forever expelled. Let us mutually 
lay aside every weight, and set the Lord, 
the worth of his cause, and immortal souls 
constantly before our eyes. 

Our hearts and our doors have been, 
and still are, open to messengers of Jesus, 
of whatever name. We pray for and re- 
joice in the advancing reign of him who is 
King of kings and Lord of lords. 

From your sincere friends of the Bap- 
tist Quarterly Meeting, held at New Dur- 
ham, New Hampshire, June 3, 1786. 

Pelatiah Tingley, Clerk. 
[120] 






Benjamin Randall 

This letter speaks frankly, and yet mani- 
fests a kind, conciliatory spirit. It shows a 
desire that, while holding up the truth on 
either side, there be no feeling of acrimony 
or censoriousness, and that, while honestly 
holding some different sentiments, they 
fraternize so far as could be, in efforts to 
promote the cause which all Christians hold 
dear, the cause which has as its end the 
good of the world and the glory of God. 

After a time an answer was received and 
another letter sent by the Quarterly Meet- 
ing. But, as neither was recorded, we can 
know nothing of their contents. Thus the 
correspondence ended. But thus it would 
not have been a hundred years later. 

At the September session it was agreed 
to reaffirm a former vote on communion, 
that " It is proper to commune with one 
who, though not baptized by immersion, yet 
gives evidence of a change of heart, and 
daily leads a Christian life." 

Near the close of the year, Mr. Randall 
traveled somewhat extensively in Maine, 

[121] 



Benjamin Randall 

during which he attended some sixty meet- 
ings and saw many displays of God's grace. 
He says : 

I met crowds flocking together from all 
directions; both by water and by land. I 
enjoyed great freedom in preaching Jesus, 
and had much success all along those islands 
of the sea 



[122] 



XVII 

PROGRESS 
1 787- 1 79O 

DURING the time covered by this chap- 
ter the young denomination under the 
leadership of Mr. Randall was steadily and 
healthily increasing. As had been hoped, 
the Quarterly Meeting system was working 
harmoniously. Its sessions had large at- 
tendance, and there was always good preach- 
ing and devout worship, and there radiated 
forth evangelistic influences which reached 
far into the country surrounding the lo- 
calities that entertained the delegates. The 
sessions, with the quarterly letters to the 
churches, were educating the people in mat- 
ters pertaining to union, doctrine, and usage. 
With peace, plenty, equal rights, and just 
laws, what a paradise this world might be! 
But the golden age of such a state, if it is to 
be on earth, waits upon the slow widening 

[123] 



Benjamin Randall 

of men's thoughts " with the process of the 



suns." 



About the time under consideration a few 
cases of irregularity developed among the 
churches. Cases that should have been set- 
tled in churches where they originated, were, 
at this early period, taken to the Quarterly 
Meeting for adjustment. As illustrative of 
methods pursued in discipline by the early 
fathers, a few cases are given. 

In a case of slight deflection, the offender 
was simply admonished. That being well 
received, and a promise given to amend, the 
matter dropped. In another case, David 
Young and family had accused Jeremiah 
Dow of certain criminal acts. In vindica- 
tion, Dow had taken out a warrant for defa- 
mation against Young. Investigation proved 
the charges to be untrue. Settled, by having 
the accusing family severally confess, and 
the accused withdraw his warrant. 

From several other methods of harmoni- 
zing discordant elements, but one is here 
selected, and that because it was found to 

[124] 



Benjamin Randall 

be so effective that it was afterward fre- 
quently resorted to. It appears that Hib- 
bard and Dunton, both good men, had a 
case of difference which they regarded suf- 
ficiently serious to be submitted to Quarterly 
Meeting for settlement. After a statement 
of the grievance before the conference, 
Brother Coombs expressed a conviction that, 
should the conference resolve itself into a 
prayer-meeting, and commit the whole mat- 
ter to God, he would soon restore harmony. 
The conference did as Brother Coombs sug- 
gested, and results were as he prophesied 

Mr. Randall was very forbearing. He 
had that charity which suffers long and is 
kind. But he had withal high ideals as to 
church consistency, and where persuasion 
failed he could be stern in rebuke. In the 
constituency of the early churches were 
several former schoolmasters; and the ma- 
jority agreed with them that good discipline 
was an important factor of all good govern- 
ment; hence, where transgressors resisted 
conciliatory efforts for their reform, the 

[125] 



Benjamin Randall 

purity of the church demanded extreme 
measures. After offenders had been dealt 
with according to scriptural methods, if they 
were still incorrigible they were regretfully 
but promptly excluded. 

The establishment of a Quarterly Meeting 
emergency fund had been decided upon. At 
a later session the question was asked as to 
the manner of raising it. The laconic an- 
swer of the conference was, " By free con- 
tributions." This was simple and sure; so 
simple that some may at this time think it 
indicated a lack of ability to plan a compli- 
cated system of church finance. But if it 
be borne in mind that this was long before 
the invention of some devices now in vogue 
for raising church and benevolent funds, 
charitable allowance may be made. 

We must admit that these people were a 
bit old-fashioned in their notions as to their 
proper relations to God and each other. 
They were pretty well acquainted with an 
old-fashioned Book, and its teachings proba- 
bly colored their judgment. Maybe some 

[126] 



Benjamin Randall 

of them remembered a call for offerings, 
and the response, as recorded in an old, old 
story, which runs thus : " And the Lord 
spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the 
children of Israel, that they bring me an of- 
fering: of every man that giveth it willingly 
with his heart ye shall take my offering. 
And they came, every one whose heart 
stirred him up, and every one whom his 
spirit made him willing, and they brought 
the Lord's offering to the work of the 
tabernacle of the congregation, and for all 
his service." 

Whatever the source of inspiration, a re- 
spectable emergency fund was raised and 
sustained "by free contributions." That 
too, during years when our country was 
struggling through the most depressing 
financial experiences it has ever known. To 
anticipate, it may be said here that for 
many years, and until better civic and eccle- 
siastical government obtained, this fund did 
incalculable good, along lines first seen in 
vision by its founder, Benjamin Randall. 

[127] 



Benjamin Randall 

In the early part of 1787, Mr. Randall 
made an extensive tour through the western 
section of New Hampshire. As usual, re- 
vivals attended his evangelistic efforts, 
which, in some cases, developed into 
churches, while elsewhere existent churches 
were strengthened by large additions. 

During this period additions were made 
to the ministry by the ordination of Nathan 
Merrill and J. McCarson. At Bristol, 
Maine, twenty were baptized and a church 
organized. Buxton asked for the ordina- 
tion of a candidate and admission to the 
Quarterly Meeting. 

Mr. Randall closes his record for 1787 
by a brief review and reflections suggested 
thereby. He entered this record : 

I was rejoiced at hearing of the revival 
of religion all through the country, east and 
west. Blessed be the Lord! May all the 
messengers come like doves, each with an 
olive leaf. Great harmony has prevailed in 
the business transactions. Large numbers 
have been added to the churches 

[128] 



Benjamin Randall 

The church at Weeks Corner, Maine, had 
for the first time invited the Quarterly 
Meeting. Notice had been sent to surround- 
ing towns. Anticipation had been thor- 
oughly aroused. With some there was 
probably a large element of curiosity. They 
had heard of a Free Baptist Quarterly Meet- 
ing and wanted to see what it was like. 
With many, as the sequel proved, there was 
a deep hungering and thirsting for spiritual 
betterment. 

On the morning of the first day the peo- 
ple of that section looked out over a level 
of snow, below which fences and other 
landmarks had modestly sunk out of sight. 
The most prominent objects in view were 
the big drifts which blockaded all highways 
leading to Weeks Corner. Conditions in 
evidence answered in most respects to a de- 
scription of New England given by a South- 
erner, who visited this country for the first 
time in midwinter. He said that what im- 
pressed him most was the piled-up condition 
of things here : " The hills were piled above 

k [129] 



Benjamin Randall 

the plains; the mountains above the hills; 
the rocks above the mountains; the snow 
above the rocks; the wind above the snow; 
and cold above every thing/ ' 

But those sturdy New Englanders were 
not to be daunted by anything so trifling as 
a snow-storm; the snow retarded, but did 
not prevent, a large attendance. Churches 
were well represented, reports were encour- 
aging, business was disposed of with har- 
mony and despatch, devotional meetings 
were well sustained, and preaching was at- 
tended with much demonstration of divine 
power. 

Soon after the session got fairly under 
way there were evidences of an approach- 
ing revival. Christians were moved to in- 
tercessory prayer, and sinners began to con- 
fess their desire for salvation. The work 
went on with much power till a goodly num- 
ber from various parts of the town, and 
beyond, were rejoicing over a new-born 
hope. A transcript from Mr. Randall's jour- 
nal is of interest here : 

[130] 



Benjamin Randall 

The season seemed to me to be almost 
heaven. While I was preaching from Ephe- 
sians 4:30, the power of God attended, a 
great number were struck to the heart and 
cried for mercy. Then, when I was preach- 
ing again from Hebrews 10 : 3, the same 
was repeated. At communion the impress- 
iveness was so great as to be almost unen- 
durable. The house seemed much like being 
full of angels. " Oh, come, magnify the 
Lord with me, and let us exalt his name to- 
gether!" 

On the twenty- first of June, 1790, Mr. 
Randall was summoned by a message to go 
in haste to see his father at Ossipee, twenty- 
two miles distant, in what proved to be the 
last sickness. He reached the bedside just 
in time to witness his father's departure. 
Though too late to receive a final benedic- 
tion, he was comforted by the remembrance 
of the excellent life his parent had lived. 
The remains were borne to New Durham on 
a horse-litter. Impressive funeral services 
were held at the house of Elder Randall, 
who preached the sermon of the occasion 

[131] 



Benjamin Randall 

from Psalm 37:37: "Mark the perfect 
man, and behold the upright: for the end 
of that man is peace." Then the venerable 
form of Captain Randall, followed by a 
large and sympathetic procession, was laid 
to rest in the family burying-ground. 



[132] 



XVIII 

THROUGH REVERSES TO VICTORY 
1791 

THE year 1791 opened with Mr. Randall 
while he was wading through one of 
the most depressing experiences of his minis- 
try. The expansion of the new denomina- 
tion had exceeded the supply of ministerial 
help. Most of the churches were suffering 
for lack of pastoral care. Respecting the 
field covered by these churches it might be 
said, " The harvest truly is great, but the 
laborers are few." This scarcity of labor- 
ers was attributable, in part at least, to Mr. 
Randall's extreme caution in inducting men 
to the ministry. He had high ideals as to 
ministerial standards, and would " lay hands 
suddenly on no man." 

To his humiliation and grief, the New 
Durham church, which was naturally re- 
garded as an example by others of its asso- 

[133] 



Benjamin Randall 

ciation, was in such a state of spiritual dis- 
order as to need what surgeons call " heroic 
treatment/' The efforts put forth for re- 
claiming delinquents had in many cases 
proved of no avail. Hopeful of winning 
back this class, yet fearful of taking any 
steps that might result in driving them far- 
ther away, the pastor had borne and borne, 
till convinced that forbearance had ceased 
to be a virtue. 

But what should be done? This was now 
the perplexing question. We of the present 
day, with our light from history since made, 
would say, Let the living members slough 
off the dead part and cast it away. That is, 
let a church discipline itself. If it has in 
its membership incorrigible offenders, ex- 
clude them. Meantime, let the church main- 
tain its identity. This probably was the 
proper course for the New Durham church 
to take. This was in later years conceded 
by Mr. Randall as the best general rule, 
though it did not then suggest itself to him 
as the most feasible for that case. 

[134] 



Benjamin Randall 

Whether wise or otherwise, this is the 
way he did it: after visiting his parish and 
thereby preparing the minds of his people, 
Mr. Randall announced a meeting at which 
decisive action would be taken. As the 
meeting had been widely advertised it had 
a large attendance. After stating the condi- 
tion of the church and his fruitless efforts 
to correct its irregularities, Mr. Randall 
proceeded to say : 

Therefore, considering how small is the 
number who stand fast in the truth, in com- 
parison with those who have turned back, 
and that our covenant agreements are 
broken by the ungodly conduct of those pro- 
fessors who have become backslidden : 

Agreed, that we now regard our church 
connections dissolved, and proclaim it so to 
the world. Also, that these doings be pub- 
licly read on the two next consecutive 
Sabbaths. 

Then, as a number present felt their hearts 
warm toward each other, and wished to 
arise and covenant anew in church relation- 

[135] 



Benjamin Randall 

ship, March twenty-third was appointed for 
all like-minded to meet for that purpose. 

As the news of this action spread, it 
caused no little stir in the vicinity. Some 
blamed Mr. Randall, and some justified him 
for the move. On the day appointed a 
goodly number met, discussed ways and 
means of future procedure, and adjourned 
to April thirteenth. At this meeting twenty- 
one persons declared themselves in fellow- 
ship and were reorganized into a church. 

These brethren once more started with a 
prospect of better order. All felt relieved 
and animated with new life. The first work 
to which they addressed themselves was in 
the line of reclaiming their delinquent breth- 
ren. Their efforts were successful only in 
part. 

Mr. Randall seemed to have received a 
fresh baptism of the Holy Spirit, and more 
power attended his preaching, while the peo- 
ple flocked together with renewed eagerness 
to hear. Under his sermon of May eighth, 
conviction was manifested by a number. 

[136] 



Benjamin Randall 

The next day some fifty became deeply af- 
fected and several cried for mercy. The re- 
vival thus started continued with power. 
Meetings were held with success, for a time 
almost every day and evening. Among 
those who became trophies of grace were a 
large number of the most influential and 
promising young people of the town. 

Mr. Randall had six baptismal services 
within a few weeks, till sixty-seven were 
added to the twenty-one members of the re- 
organized church, making a total of eighty- 
eight. These accessions included John Buz- 
zell, Simon Pottle, and Joseph Boody, all of 
whom became ministers. 

As John Buzzell was so intimately con- 
nected with the early history of our denomi- 
nation, a few words of introduction may 
here be admissible. A descendant from ster- 
ling English ancestry, John Buzzell opened 
his eyes for the first time at Barrington, 
New Hampshire, September 16, 1766. He 
obtained a good education for the times, 
taught several terms, and at the time of his 

[137] 



Benjamin Randall 

baptism was the New Durham schoolmaster. 
He had a well-developed physique, an im- 
posing presence, and a good command of 
language. He at once began to preach the 
gospel of free grace, and was thencefor- 
ward one of Randall's ablest coworkers. 

The June session of the Quarterly Meet- 
ing was, as usual, held at New Durham. 
Those from abroad soon caught the spirit 
of the place, and from the reflex influence 
the work at New Durham received a new 
impulse. The reports at this session were 
generally encouraging. New Durham was 
reported by Robert Oram, son of Elder 
Randall, thus : 

The work of the Lord prospers among 
us. A most blessed union prevails. The 
Lord reigns. Glory to his blessed name! 

A revival, begun in Middleton, had ex- 
tended into Brookfield and Wakefield. This 
was under the labors of John Buzzell. The 
work commenced from his first sermon. His 
brother Aaron, who became such an effi- 

[138] 



/ 



Benjamin Randall 

cient minister, was the first convert of this 
effort. Revivals were also reported at Kit- 
tery, Barrington, Bristol, and Raymond. 
Churches had been organized during the 
year at Kittery, Pittsfield, and Ossipee Hill. 

Because of the pressing need of labor at 
home, Randall spent as little time as possible 
in his Kennebec tour this year. After his 
return, in a report of that tour, he says: 
" Experienced a wonderful display of God's 
power." 

Thus the finger of God may scatter the 
darkest clouds, his hand make reverses 
stepping-stones to victory, and his blessing 
transmute trials into glory. 



[139] 



XIX 

HIGHER ORGANIZATION 
1792 

EXPERIENCE had taught Mr. Randall 
and his brethren that the denomination, 
in its expansion, had outgrown its repre- 
sentative arrangement entered into nine 
years before, in the Quarterly Meeting for- 
mation. It had become impossible for every 
church to report itself to every session of 
the body as the rule required. 

Feeling the importance of a remedy, Ran- 
dall introduced the matter to his home 
church, assembled May ninth, when the 
question was duly considered. He and 
seven others were chosen to meet delegates 
from all his other churches in New Hamp- 
shire, to devise some means of relief. Re- 
sults were to be presented at the next Quar- 
terly Meeting session, and to be adopted if 
there thought best. 

[140] 



Benjamin Randall 

The proposed meeting was held May 
twenty-third, at the residence of James 
Lock, in Barnstead. It consisted of repre- 
sentatives from New Durham, Pittsfield, 
Middleton, and Barrington. It was agreed : 

That the name of the present Quarterly 
Meeting, holding its annual sessions at New 
Durham, be changed to that of a Yearly 
Meeting. 

That a new class of meetings, each to be 
held once in three months, be introduced be- 
tween this and the churches, with the name 
of Quarterly Meetings. 

That each church attend to all its local 
business, maintain good discipline, take the 
scriptural steps with delinquents, to the last 
admonition; then, if unsuccessful, refer the 
matter to the Quarterly Meeting. That each 
church, as now, have a clerk to keep its 
records, full and plain. That the church 
send its clerk to each session of the Quar- 
terly Meeting, with his book of records, and 
several others as messengers. That through 
its clerk and messengers, each church report 
its condition to each session of the Quarterly 
Meeting. 

[i4i] 



Benjamin Randall 

It was agreed that the messengers repre- 
senting the several churches belonging there- 
to constitute the Quarterly Meeting poten- 
tial. That the Quarterly Meeting hold its 
sessions at such times and places as agreed 
upon. That it have a clerk who shall keep 
a full and plain record of all doings, and 
transcribe in his book the records of the 
several churches. That the Quarterly Meet- 
ing adjust all difficulties that may be re- 
ferred to it by the churches, or arise in its 
executive sessions, if able; but if not, refer 
the same to the Yearly Meeting. 

That the Yearly Meeting consist of dele- 
gates from the several Quarterly Meetings, 
hold its sessions annually, at times and 
places agreed upon, adjust all matters re- 
ferred to it by the Quarterly Meetings, and 
transact any other legitimate business. It 
shall devise ways and means for the welfare 
and efficiency of its constituency, and exer- 
cise a general supervision over the entire 
denomination. 

The new system was unanimously adopted 
and was to go into operation at once, with 
Mr. Randall as recording secretary. 

[142] 



Benjamin Randall 

It was also recommended that the same 
plan be adopted by the gatherings at Edge- 
comb, Gorham, and Parsonsfield, Maine. 
These recommendations were approved and 
adopted by these bodies. 

This system provided that each church 
have a monthly meeting for the transaction 
of its local business; that several contigu- 
ous churches constitute a Quarterly Meet- 
ing; and that all the Quarterly Meetings 
covering a State, or other agreed-upon ter- 
ritory, combine for an annual session, to be 
called a Yearly Meeting. 

This was the ideal. But it took several 
years of working the plan for the several 
bodies in the combination to learn their exact 
relative duties. 

To meet the demands of new conditions, 
which arose from time to time, alterations, 
amendments, and supplements were de- 
manded and made. 

For more than fifty years, until the 
organization of General Conference, the 
Yearly Meeting was the highest ecclesiasti- 

[143] 



Benjamin Randall 

cal court of the denomination. It served the 
purpose intended, and its decisions were re- 
spected by the people. 

Thus far these organizations have been 
considered mostly from a business stand- 
point. But their sessions were of interest to 
the general public, mainly as centers of re- 
ligious instruction and worship. Most of 
the business was done at side sessions, leav- 
ing much time for meetings of a purely re- 
ligious nature. People came to these meet- 
ings from near and far, many of whom were 
hungering and thirsting for the gospel as 
proclaimed by the preachers of free grace. 
In confirmation of this statement, John 
Buzzell's testimony is instructive and in- 
teresting: 

These meetings called the attention of 
thousands to hear the word of God who, per- 
haps, would have remained ignorant of these 
things if their attention had not been excited 
by these means. I have known persons of 
respectability to travel nearly twenty miles 
to attend a Monthly Meeting; and have seen 

[144] 



Benjamin Randall 

as many as a hundred spectators at a church 
conference, when the church consisted of 
only ten members. At Quarterly Meetings 
I have often seen thousands flocking from 
different parts to hear the word. And when 
we have been under the necessity of repair- 
ing to groves for want of room, I have fre- 
quently seen them climb the trees, like Zac- 
chaeus, to see and hear, as it seemed, at the 
hazard of their lives. Yet I never knew a 
person to receive harm on such occasions. 

Many who have come to these meetings 
have returned new creatures, praising God 
for redeeming love and saving grace. 

The Yearly Meetings have also been at- 
tended with an equivalent blessing. Hun- 
dreds of souls that now belong to this de- 
nomination, and others, have located their 
first religious awakening in one of our 
Monthly, Quarterly, or Yearly Meetings. 

Here we have an illustration, in part, of 
Mr. BuzzelFs general statement. The scene 
was at a country town in Maine. The local 
church had invited the Yearly Meeting. 
They had raised and covered in a meeting- 
house of goodly proportions. They had laid 

L [145] 



Benjamin Randall 

loose, temporary floors, and fitted up rough- 
board seats for the occasion. Here they held 
the preliminary sessions and services. Here 
Mr. Randall preached the first sermon. But 
the coming multitude soon outgrew the ca- 
pacity of the house. Here we will let one 
who constituted a part of that assembly 
finish the story; his language shows the 
impressive nature of the scene. 

It was September : a beautiful Sabbath 
morning, the day of the great gathering of 
the new sect. Nature had just put on her 
brilliant attire, as if vying with man in wor- 
ship to the Maker of all. My father, though 
not given to piety, consented to take all — 
mother, brothers, and sisters — to the spot 
where the public mind, as with one accord, 
seemed centering. Approaching with others, 
we entered a beautiful grove, and soon came 
to a widely extended ledge, of almost snowy 
whiteness. Upon this was erected a speak- 
er's stand, with a table near, spread with 
communion service. The vessels were bright 
and glistening; the table coverings and nap- 
kins were as clean as the purest snow. 

[i 4 6] 



Benjamin Randall 

The immense congregation, sitting around 
under the forest shade, were giving close 
attention to a sermon by Elder Tingley. 
I then, for the first time, saw Elder Ran- 
dall, who was sitting upon the stand with 
other speakers. A heavenly glow seemed 
to rest on his countenance. How impress- 
ively did the whole scene strike my young 
heart, over which only thirteen summers 
had passed! 

I had read of the crucified Saviour, 
wrapped in clean linen, and could hardly 
divest myself of the idea that the real body 
of Christ was lying upon that table before 
us, hidden from view only by those cover- 
ings, and that this was almost an exact 
representation of apostolic times. 

As for the speaker, his manner was pe- 
culiar. He would strike the first of his sen- 
tence on a high key and drop to a lower on 
the latter part. He would comprehend much 
in a few words; but soon, how I wished him 
through, and that Randall would commence ! 
In this I was at length gratified. And oh, 
how he spoke! burning words, right to the 
heart. 

The impression then received by me can 

[147] 



Benjamin Randall 

never be erased from the tablet of my 
memory. The influence was to change the 
entire habit of my thinking, to set me wholly 
upon a new course, and control my subse- 
quent existence for good. I praise God for 
that day! 



[i 4 8] 



XX 

MISSIONARY JOURNEY THROUGH FORESTS 

1792 

A YOUNG man by the name of Dickey, 
gifted in prayer and exhortation, had 
gone from Epsom, New Hampshire, to Straf- 
ford, Vermont, there to remain awhile on 
business. Finding a general disregard of all 
things religious, he soon began to call on the 
people to turn from their sins and obey the 
commandments of God. These efforts were 
soon blessed by a gracious outpouring of 
God's spirit and the conversion of souls. 

Calvinistic ministers soon visited the 
place, baptized whom they could, and or- 
ganized a church. But Dickey was a Free 
Baptist. And from his representation of 
the new order, in the region from which 
he came, a number of the community desired 
to send for aid from that source. Hence the 
following letter : 

[149] 



Benjamin Randall 

To the Baptist church of New Durham. 
Dear Brethren : 

By agreement of a number of friends 
here, having a desire for the welfare of each 
other and for our fellow creatures, we now 
think it expedient, according to the light 
and manifestation of God's word, to come 
into church order of government, as the 
Scriptures direct. And being informed by 
Brother Dickey of your standing and order, 
these being agreeable to our minds, we re- 
quest some of the elders of your church to 
come, as soon as possible, to our assistance. 
For we are alone, as to sentiment, in this 
part of the country. 

From your friend and brother, 

Samuel Rich. 
Strafford, Vermont, 
September 10, 1771. 

The New Durham brethren regarded this 
as another Macedonian call, but were then 
forced to answer that, as their pastor had 
just returned from a journey of a hundred 
and sixty miles east, and must go again in 
two weeks on important business to Water- 

[150] 






Benjamin Randall 

boro, Maine, and then attend to other en- 
gagements, they could not comply with their 
request till another season. 

So, on July 25, 1792, Elder Randall, with 
John Buzzell as companion, bearing the com- 
mendation of the church, set off on the pro- 
posed mission. On arrival, Mr. Randall 
preached a number of times to the people, 
with great freedom. 

The people were found to be of mixed 
sentiments, but all so absorbed in the over- 
flowing joys of their new love that points of 
doctrine held a subordinate place in their re- 
gards. They would not harbor the idea of 
being separated and being formed into two 
different societies. For a time the question 
was most anxiously considered among them, 
about the direction in which they would 
move. Meantime, they were left to their 
own volition. 

Finally, at a meeting held August first, 
having, as they said, duly considered the mat- 
ter, those already formed into a church con- 
cluded to alter their Articles of Faith so far 

[151] 



Benjamin Randall 

as to take a stand with their Free Baptist 
brethren. Accordingly, however much Mr. 
Randall might have feared from their pre- 
vious differing views, he extended to them 
the hand of fellowship. 

The day before he had baptized Jacob 
Hadley and Daniel Hadley, of Tunbridge, an 
adjoining town. Nathaniel Brown was one 
of this organization. He was a young man 
of early promise, which he later fulfilled. 
After successful evangelistic work in Ver- 
mont, he was the first minister to preach 
the gospel of free grace in western New 
York, where he organized the Bethany 
church and, indirectly, the Genesee Quar- 
terly Meeting, and the Holland Purchase 
Yearly Meeting. 

Randall and Buzzell returned by the way 
of Salisbury, New Hampshire, where, by 
invitation, they held a few religious services. 
As one of the immediate results, a glorious 
work of grace began. But they were obliged 
to turn away and leave the work in the hands 
of another denomination. 

[152] 



Benjamin Randall 

This tour of about two weeks was at- 
tended with much sacrifice and suffering on 
the part of those missionaries. The roads 
were bad and much of the way through ex- 
tended forests. Many times, as night over- 
took them, they had no better place to sleep 
than the bare floor of one of the log cabins 
which were sparsely scattered along the 
way. The weather was hot and sultry. 
The distance traveled was about three hun- 
dred miles. Before they reached the end of 
their journey, riding became very distress- 
ing. 

When they were about to separate, Mr. 
Randall presented his companion two of the 
four pistareens, which represented the sum- 
total of their money receipts while absent. 
A pistareen was a small Spanish silver coin, 
valued in the United States at about seven- 
teen cents. Buzzell refused the offer; but 
Randall thrust the bits into his hand, say- 
ing, " You shall take them ! Carry them to 
your wife! " 

This case of home mission work has been 

[153] 



Benjamin Randall 

given somewhat in detail; not that, as con- 
sidered in connection with the general pio- 
neer work of the times, it is exceptional, 
but as illustrative of experiences common to 
those early evangelists, records of which in 
most cases never found their way to public 
recognition. 



[154] 



XXI 

INDUCTION TO THE MINISTRY 
1792 

THE year 1792 was nearing its close. 
The months already past had been 
crowded with events of importance to Mr. 
Randall and the cause he represented. But 
before the year was allowed to join the re- 
ceding procession, other important events 
were added to the record. 

A council duly authorized met at Wolfe- 
boro, October nineteenth, and organized a 
Free Baptist church, the first church of any 
kind organized in the town. The covenant, 
in Mr. Randall's handwriting, is still extant. 
Four days later a council, consisting of Ran- 
dall, Weeks, and Whitney, met at Middleton 
to examine, with reference to ordination, 
John Buzzell and Isaac Townsend. 

As intimated in a former chapter, our 
fathers were cautious about inducting men 

[155] 



Benjamin Randall 

into the ministry. Whatever the natural or 
acquired abilities of candidates, certain con- 
ditions were indispensable. The men must 
be of good repute, mentally balanced, and 
deeply pious. They must be sound in bibli- 
cal doctrines according to evangelical inter- 
pretation, have aptness to teach and ability 
to edify, have a gift for soul-winning, give 
evidence of a divine call; and, withal, the 
more education they had received the better. 
One of the ordeals through which a candi- 
date usually had to pass was the preaching 
of a trial sermon. 

Now, respecting the cases under con- 
sideration, the following items are gleaned 
from an old record : They first had worship 
at the Middleton meeting-house, where Buz- 
zell preached on trial to good acceptance. 
The council then repaired to a private house. 
Buzzell proceeded to give an account of his 
conversion, call to the ministry, and success 
in former efforts at soul-winning. Then fol- 
lowed critical questions by the brethren on 
the council, and all to good satisfaction. 

[156] 




REV. JOHN BUZZELL 

A typical Free Baptist minister of the Randallian period 



Benjamin Randall 

Townsend was put through a similar 
course, except the trial sermon, and with like 
results. It was agreed that Buzzell be or- 
dained at the meeting-house the following 
day, and that Townsend be ordained the day 
after at Wolf eboro. Randall, Weeks, Whit- 
ney, and Boody were selected to conduct the 
services. 

Here it may be admissible to turn a side- 
light on some ordination customs — or per- 
haps, more properly speaking, accessories — 
peculiar to the times. In those early days a 
really orthodox ordination was held to be 
an affair in which the rabble must have a 
part as well as the church and the council. 

The people from a wide area would assem- 
ble. A procession would be formed, some- 
times headed by a band of music, to escort 
the pastor-elect and other dignitaries from 
some public place to the meeting-house. And 
while the services would be in process there, 
drinking, horse-swapping, and general ca- 
rousing would be the order (?) without. 
The day would end with public festivities, 

[157] 



Benjamin Randall 

at which strong drink would be a considera- 
ble part of the entertainment. 

The expense of all this would be paid from 
the public chest. A work called " Buxton 
Centennial " gives a few illustrative state- 
ments. Under date of 1762, the record runs 
thus : " Twenty pounds " — about one hun- 
dred dollars — " lawful money was voted to 
defray the charges of ordaining Mr. Paul 
Coffin." In the same account, farther on, 
we have this : " A very plentiful entertain- 
ment for the council and strangers was pro- 
vided at the expense of the proprietors." 

Though no parade, public dinner, music, 
or rum was offered in connection with the 
ordination of Mr. Buzzell, by common im- 
pulse a mixed multitude gathered for the 
occasion; the better class to witness, if 
possible, the services, and the baser for 
carousal. 

At ten o'clock in the morning about one 
thousand people gathered in and about the 
house of God to witness the interesting and 
impressive ceremonies; while about another 

[158] 



Benjamin Randall 

thousand were out by themselves to spend 
the day in revelry. 

Elder Randall preached the sermon from 
2 Corinthians 5 : 20 : " Now then we are 
ambassadors for Christ." Weeks offered 
the prayer of consecration and gave the 
charge. Whitney gave the hand of fellow- 
ship, and Boody offered the closing prayer. 
The sermon was well adapted to the occa- 
sion, and was delivered with demonstration 
of the Spirit and with power. Each part of 
the services was well sustained. The whole 
was solemn and impressive. It was a day of 
good to God's people, notwithstanding the 
annoyance of the rabble. 

In accordance with previous arrange- 
ments, the next day the same council met at 
Wolfeboro and ordained Isaac Townsend as 
pastor of the Free Baptist church there. 

At a legal meeting the town of Wolfe- 
boro, after having organized a church of 
eight members, had voted to settle Mr. Eben- 
ezer Allen as its minister, and arranged for 
his ordination to occur on the same day 

[159] 



Benjamin Randall 

appointed for that of Mr. Townsend. The 
evident intent of this was that Townsend 
should not be the first minister ordained in 
the town, thereby entitling him to the town 
land. 

Previous to the ordination of Mr. Allen 
a remonstrance had been signed by eighteen 
citizens and presented to the town authori- 
ties, protesting against the move and declar- 
ing that they would not pay any minister- 
tax to the town, as they were accustomed to 
attend the other church. 

The usual rabble was in evidence, as was 
their manner, at the town gathering. At 
the Townsend ordination the assembly was 
large, orderly, and respectful. It was a day 
of great good to the locality and the regions 
beyond. 

Let us be thankful that, by common con- 
sent, such religious rivalry has long since 
disappeared, and that not only religious 
tolerance, but a spirit of mutual helpfulness 
now dominates all Christian bodies. 

[160] 



XXII 

CHURCH MUSIC — CONGREGATION VERSUS 

CHOIR 

1793 

DURING the eighteenth century most 
of the church singing was congrega- 
tional. A record of it contains this, " They 
sang with decorum if not ability." But 
some daring innovators emphasized the im- 
portance of " ability " withal, and suggested 
that church music might be improved by 
giving the whole matter over to the exclu- 
sive management of a few trained singers. 
This suggestion met with scant favor among 
New England churches, and in some cases it 
was stoutly antagonized. 

The suggestion for these improvements 
(?) reached New Durham during the year 
of grace 1793. It appears that a number 
in the town had given attention to the rules 
of singing, and had formed themselves into 

ii [161] 



Benjamin Randall 

an association called " The Singing So- 
ciety." At length the leader wrote to Mr. 
Randall, requesting that choir singing be in- 
troduced into the Sabbath services of the 
church, and that they be permitted to con- 
duct that part of worship. From the first 
our people had given to sacred song a large 
place in their worship. Their aversion to 
surrendering that service to the monopoly of 
a choir was expressed in Mr. Randall's re- 
sponse, portions of which are subjoined: 

New Durham, May 10, 1793. 
Mr. Jackson and The Singing Society. 

In response to your request, we would 
say: 

As " God is a Spirit, and they that wor- 
ship him must worship him in spirit and in 
truth," nothing but spiritual service can be 
pleasing to him. Hence, should a society, 
ever so large, and understanding the rules 
of music ever so well, render the service of 
song without the spirit, it could only please 
the ear of men, and not the great heart- 
searching God, who requireth truth in the 
inward parts. 

[162] 



Benjamin Randall 

You well say that singing is a part of 
the worship of God, and ought to be per- 
formed with sincerity. Just so. Such is 
the declaration of the Scriptures : " I will 
pray with the spirit, and I will pray with 
the understanding also : I will sing with the 
spirit, and I will sing with the understand- 
ing." " Let the word of Christ dwell in you 
richly in all wisdom; teaching and admon- 
ishing one another in psalms and hymns and 
spiritual songs, singing with grace in your 
hearts to the Lord." " Speaking to your- 
selves in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
songs, singing and making melody in your 
heart to the Lord." 

How important that we sing with the 
spirit! How presumptuous must it be for 
any one who lives after a vain and carnal 
manner, or uses his tongue in profane lan- 
guage, to attempt to lead an important part 
of the solemn worship of God! As well may 
an unconverted man lead in prayer or 
preaching as in singing. For the latter is 
equally sacred with the former. 

But to conclude. We wish you well. 
May you all be engaged to know God ! May 
you all come into that state in which you 

[163] 



Benjamin Randall 

can worship him in spirit and truth here, 
and be prepared to join with the millions of 
worshipers hereafter. 

Yet, we must inform you that, for rea- 
sons above stated, we believe it cannot be 
pleasing to God for us to give our consent 
for his worship to be led by any but those 
who are practical believers in Christ. 

In behalf of the church at New Durham, 
Benjamin Randall, Pastor. 

Here it should be observed that Mr. Ran- 
dall did not object to the regulation of 
church music by rule, but to monopoly of it 
by the unconverted. 

Now, we are in sympathy with both Mr. 
Randall and the leader of "The Singing 
Society." The position of Mr. Randall, 
that the entire congregation should have the 
opportunity of worship by song, is sus- 
tained by the sacred Scriptures, the usages 
of the early Christian church, and of all 
churches ever since, at seasons of their deep- 
est piety and greatest efficiency. 

In order that singing be with the under- 

[i6 4 ] 



Benjamin Randall 

standing as well as with the spirit, it must be 
regulated by rules. Henry Ward Beecher, 
in one of his Yale lectures, speaking of 
church music, said: "A choir is necessary 
to have the best kind of congregational sing- 
ing." He would have the organ and the 
choir lead and regulate the music, while 
" all the people " have opportunity to wor- 
ship in song, measuring up to right stand- 
ards according to their several ability. And 
that is the way they did it, as we happen to 
know by personal acquaintance with both 
Mr. Beecher and his Free Baptist chorister. 
In that same Yale lecture, Mr. Beecher had 
the modesty to say : " It is the singing which 
draws the people to Plymouth church, not 
the preaching." 

It is a well-known fact that Mr. Spur- 
geon had simply a musical director to lead 
his three or four thousand hearty English 
and Welsh worshipers in sacred song. As 
to the effect, we have it from those who have 
attended the Tabernacle services that it was 
indescribably impressive and grand. 

[165] 



XXIII 

ON THE TRAIL OF THE PIONEER 
1793-1797 

EARLY in the history of the colonies 
the District of Maine — as it was then 
called, because tinder the government of 
Massachusetts — offered special land-grant 
inducements to settlers. These were ac- 
cepted by hundreds and thousands of home- 
seekers. The first settlers were mostly from 
Massachusetts, and descendants of the Puri- 
tans. While with these people some of the 
hard Puritanic features had been softened, 
they retained the physical robustness, men- 
tal vigor, and religious tendencies of their 
noble ancestors. As a rule, they were law- 
abiding citizens, reared large families, es- 
tablished good schools, and welcomed the 
church. 

They first took possession of the many 
islands and extended seacoast lands. Then 

[166] 



Benjamin Randall 

they followed the rivers and smaller streams 
to the interior. From thence they ramified 
into the unbroken forests. 

Their mode of transporting their families 
and goods was by sailing craft to the islands 
and coastlands, and as far as possible up 
the rivers. Overland they proceeded on 
foot, on horseback, on packhorses, and on 
ox-teams. These were always interesting 
experiences, and sometimes a bit of romance 
was associated with these pioneer move- 
ments. 

One young man, after helping Washing- 
ton gain the liberty of the colonies, took up 
a claim in the Maine woods, made a clear- 
ing, built a log cabin, and then returned to 
Massachusetts for his wife and babe. These 
he placed in the saddle of his horse and 
packed their scanty belongings behind, while 
he, with gun in hand and his faithful dog 
at his side, marched ahead. On leaving the 
road they took an Indian trail for a few 
miles, thence were guided by blazed trees to 
their new home. 

[167] 



Benjamin Randall 

Mr. Francis Tufts came from Nobleboro, 
Massachusetts, moving his goods and family 
on horseback. His children were carried in 
panniers made of basket stuff. They fol- 
lowed up the Kennebec to Sandy River. 
Thence they took to the woods, being guided 
the last day by blazed trees. 

Later Mr. Tufts went to Boston with two 
others, and purchased of the commonwealth 
of Massachusetts, for themselves and others, 
the entire township of Farmington for four 
hundred pounds, about two thousand dol- 
lars. His position in society gave him a 
wide and controlling influence, which he 
used for civic righteousness and religion. 

In many respects the case of Mr. John F. 
Woods was similar to that of Mr. Tufts. 
Mr. Woods came from Dunstable, with an 
ox-team, being twenty-three days on the 
road. He also was a leading citizen of the 
town. These men were not only pioneer 
settlers, but pioneer Christians and found- 
ers of Free Baptist churches in the Sandy 
River valley. 

[168] 



Benjamin Randall 

The pioneer preachers made many sacri- 
fices and suffered great hardships in connec- 
tion with their work among the early set- 
tlers. The case of Rev. Samuel Weeks is 
illustrative. One of Mr, Randall's strongest 
colaborers, he was not only successful as an 
evangelist, but as a founder of churches. A 
native of Greenland, New Hampshire, he 
began preaching at Gilmanton, and later 
moved to Parsonsfield, Maine. 

The surrounding country was then mostly 
a wilderness. One day in January, 1795, 
Weeks made his way through the woods, 
guided by blazed trees, to Porter, to attend 
an evening meeting. On his return, as he 
was crossing a branch of the Ossipee River, 
the ice gave way, and he fell from his horse 
into the water. Confused by this accident, 
and the night being very dark, he lost his 
path and could not find the spotted trees 
which would guide him. 

Weeks wandered about for a while, call- 
ing, but in vain, for help. Not daring to 
proceed in any direction for fear of becom- 

[169] 



Benjamin Randall 

ing lost, he decided to wait where he was till 
morning. Soon his clothes were frozen. 
Intense suffering was at length followed by 
numbness, accompanied by drowsiness. He 
knew that yielding to this stupor would lead 
to the sleep of death. So, by walking forth 
and back, rolling in the snow, and occasion- 
ally leaning against a tree to rest, he strug- 
gled desperately to drive off the almost over- 
powering desire to sleep, and succeeded in 
keeping awake. 

When morning dawned, Mr. Weeks found 
his way to a house, and was carried home. 
Examination revealed the fact that his feet 
were so badly frozen as to require the ampu- 
tation of portions of each foot. But sadder 
still, the shock broke down his nervous sys- 
tem, clouded his mind, and incapacitated 
him for public ministrations. The remaining 
thirty-seven years of his life were mostly 
spent in reading his Bible and in religious 
conversation with those who visited him. 
Thus, as a pioneer evangelist, he literally 
presented his body a living sacrifice to God. 

[170] 



Benjamin Randall 

Many other examples might be given, 
quite as illustrative as the foregoing, of 
sacrifices made and hardships borne by Free 
Baptist ministers in their efforts to reach 
the early settlers of New England, the Mid- 
dle States, and the great West. But here it 
must suffice to say that, to the remotest 
forest home, these evangelists followed the 
trail of the pioneer with the gospel of free 
grace. 

Respecting New England, Mr. Randall's 
journal shows that he was the pioneer evan- 
gelist to all sections of country here men- 
tioned, and beyond. Among other results 
of these efforts, churches sprang up in many 
places, and in some communities nearly 
every family became confessedly Christian. 

As a source of cheer and encouragement 
to Mr. Randall, God gave him the satisfac- 
tion of seeing that the cause to which he had 
devoted his life was making real, substantial 
advancement in all parts of his wide parish. 
This was apparent, not only in numbers, but 
also in public standing. The doctrines he 

[171] 



Benjamin Randall 

held and taught were finding acceptance 
with the more intelligent classes. 

Another source of encouragement was the 
fact that a better-furnished ministry was 
developing — a ministry more capable of de- 
claring their faith and more efficient in 
defending it. All these conditions were ac- 
cepted by Mr. Randall as comforting as- 
surances that God was directing his move- 
ments and leading from victory to victory. 



[172] 



XXIV 

YEARLY MEETING ATTENDANCE 

ENTERTAINMENT 

1798 

IN a former chapter mention was made of 
the fact that the sessions of Free Baptist 
assemblies of all kinds had large attendance. 
As time passed these assemblies became more 
and more centers of public interest, and 
their sessions had corresponding attend- 
ance. But we desire here to speak more 
especially of the New Hampshire Yearly 
Meeting. 

During the early years this body held its 
regular sessions at New Durham. The time 
selected was that part of June when the 
forests had just put on their summer robes, 
and all nature was on its best behavior. 
After the enforced confinement of winter 
and the bustle of " spring work " were over, 
almost everybody in rural New Hampshire 

[173] 



Benjamin Randall 

wanted to go somewhere. And, at the time 
of the Yearly Meeting, representatives of 
many parts of the State, and persons from 
beyond, aggregating hundreds, and in some 
cases thousands, set their faces toward New 
Durham, There were generally many from 
Portsmouth, and on one occasion six car- 
riage-loads from Boston. At several ses- 
sions the Sunday congregations were esti- 
mated to be three thousand. Facts show 
that most of these pilgrims were actuated 
by higher motives than simply to enjoy a 
pleasant outing or to satisfy the cravings of 
an idle curiosity. 

An article by the author, published a few 
years ago, contains a paragraph which so 
completely fits conditions under description 
that the substance of it is here reproduced. 

If we should theorize we might say that, 
as these meetings were held before railroad 
service, at a time when carriages were the 
luxury of the few and most country roads 
were crude, it is improbable that three thou- 
sand people should assemble on a high hill, 

[174] 



Benjamin Randall 

remote from common centers, to attend a 
religious meeting. 

But here facts are more convincing than 
theories. Other religious bodies were busy 
expounding the decrees of God and making 
good on various lines of Christian work. 
Meanwhile, the great middle classes of New 
England were waking to the consciousness 
of a deep soul-hunger. As to no other body 
of Christians at that time, the Master was 
saying to his Free Baptist disciples, " Give 
ye them to eat." They obeyed the message, 
and the common people gladly received the 
Bread of Life at their hands, and were will- 
ing to make the necessary sacrifice to reach 
the assemblies where it was offered. 

Another fact should here have considera- 
tion. Many had saddle-horses and some had 
carriages. Those thus provided could travel 
long distances with comparative ease. But 
those who had neither were accustomed to 
walk over space between them and the ob- 
ject of their interest, whatever that might 
be. So walking was not then regarded as 

[175] 



Benjamin Randall 

the hardship that it has been since the gen- 
eral introduction of easier methods of 
travel. As to those who took long-distance 
walks to attend sessions of the New Hamp- 
shire Yearly Meeting, only a few can here 
have mention. 

A company of pious women in Kittery 
and vicinity were accustomed to make an 
annual pilgrimage on foot to these meetings. 
This was to them a journey of two days each 
way. Jonathan Woodman, when a youth of 
eighteen years, walked from Sutton, Ver- 
mont, to Parsonsfield, Maine, to attend a 
Yearly Meeting. Mrs. Hannah Thorn sev- 
eral times walked from Lewiston to West- 
port, Maine, thirty-five miles each way, to 
attend a Yearly Meeting. Mrs. Joanna 
Home many times walked forty miles, from 
her home in Moultonboro, to attend sessions 
of the Yearly Meeting held in Dover. 

As the different processions of pilgrims 
joined each other at highway junctions, they 
would sometimes, as they neared the place 
of meeting, aggregate hundreds in line. The 

[176] 



Benjamin Randall 

surrounding forests would echo with their 
songs of devotion. And the people no more 
needed hymn-books than did the birds that 
responded from the overhanging branches. 

But how could the people of the town ac- 
commodate so many? The largest assembly 
was on the Sabbath, and at the close of the 
afternoon service many would start home- 
ward. Yet enough would remain to make 
it a question requiring no small labor and 
outlay to answer practically. Some would 
entertain forty; some, sixty; some, eighty, 
and even more. For lodging they would 
assign separate rooms to men and women. 
They would part their beds and bedding, 
spread it out on the floors, and then, soldier- 
like, they would lie down in long rows. 
Whoever could enjoy the luxury of a blanket 
between him and the boards might regard 
himself fortunate. 

One New Durham man of considerable 
property, with a large house and a heart to 
match, was a regular host on Yearly Meet- 
ing occasions. In after years his wife would 

n [177] 



., 



Benjamin Randall 

relate some of her experiences as hostess. 
On such occasions, after furnishing her 
guests with every available article of soft- 
ness in the house to lie upon, her only place 
for rest would be the bare floor of the attic. 
There she would seek a few hours' repose, 
but at one or two o'clock in the morning she 
would be astir again, preparing supplies for 
the table. 

Now that we have heard the testimony of 
the hostess, the story of one of her guests 
may be of interest. A prominent minister 
of the denomination, then a young man re- 
cently converted, says : 

On reaching Yearly Meeting, I put up 
at Esquire Runnels' with over one hundred 
others. When arrangements were made for 
the first night's lodging, the floors were com- 
pletely covered, leaving me to get all the 
sleep I could sitting upon a block in the 
chimney-corner. As to stillness, there 
wasn't any. The house did not cease to 
echo with the voice of singing, prayer, or 
private conversation till morning called us 
to our new-day duties. 

[178] 



Benjamin Randall 

Enjoying (?) for a while a similar en- 
tertainment the second night, I resorted to 
the dooryard where the wagons were, for 
lodgment in one of them. Putting my hand 
into the first, it fell on the face of a man in 
sound sleep; and so on to others. Despair- 
ing of success here, I returned to my block 
throne, to spend the remainder of the night 
as best I could. But the third night, going 
several miles out of the place, I found op- 
portunity for repose. 

In providing for horses, the brethren 
would sometimes hire a large pasture near- 
by, and keep it unfed till meeting-time, when 
it would be ready to afford the animals very 
good fare. Some, after filling their own 
pastures, would turn horses into their mow- 
ing fields, to find them completely fed down 
when meeting closed. On all such occasions 
the house, barn, and fields of Mr. Randall 
were laid under tribute to the fullest extent 
of their capacity. 

Thus the people of New Durham, all 
through these early years, contributed 
largely to the support and development of 

[179] 



Benjamin Randall 

the Free Baptist cause. Inspired by the 
spirit and example of a leader wholly bap- 
tized into the work, they extended this hos- 
pitality freely, gladly, and "heartily, as to 
the Lord." 



[iSo] 



XXV 

THE TRANSIT OF THE CENTURY 
I799-I80I 

THE closing years of the eighteenth cen- 
tury and the opening years of the nine- 
teenth were among the busiest years of Mr. 
Randall's very active career. 

Certain people in Marshfield, Massachu- 
setts, having applied to the Quarterly Meet- 
ing for a messenger to visit them and ex- 
plain to them more fully the doctrines held 
and taught by Free Baptists, the request 
was referred to the New Durham church, 
and Mr. Randall was appointed to answer 
the call. 

With Nathan Keniston as traveling com- 
panion, Mr. Randall started on this jour- 
ney February twenty-sixth. On his arrival 
he was given a cordial reception. He there 
found open doors for meetings and open 
hearts for the gospel of free grace. On this 

[181] 



Benjamin Randall 

circuit he took in Boston, Andover, Brain- 
tree, and Scituate. He was absent from 
home nearly a month, preached twenty- four 
times, and conducted many devotional meet- 
ings. A record in his journal runs thus: 
" All seemed to receive the gospel of free 
grace gladly, and many sinners were con- 
verted." 

In the early March of 1800, Mr. Randall 
went on a missionary tour through western 
Vermont, where he found the work spread- 
ing gloriously under the evangelistic labors 
of Joseph Boody, Jr., of New Durham. In 
the previous June, in response to earnest in- 
vitations of friends and the promptings of 
duty, Boody went on an evangelistic tour 
through those regions. He preached at 
Hardwick, Greensboro, Hyde Park, Cabot, 
Danville, Dewey Gore, Wolcott, and Wal- 
den. He saw extensive revivals in all these 
towns. He had collected a company of 
fifty-two converts in Hardwick. These Mr. 
Randall embodied into a church. Others 
were gathered later. These towns were in 

[182] 



Benjamin Randall 

the region of Mr. Randall's visit. In all this 
tour he enjoyed precious manifestations of 
the Holy Spirit in connection with his 
preaching. 

At the June Yearly Meeting, held as usual 
at New Durham, before the preliminary 
business had been completed, the glory of 
God came down in Pentecostal showers; so 
that nothing could be done but adjourn busi- 
ness till Monday and attend worship. 

This session entertained a request from 
churches in Vermont to be organized into a 
Quarterly Meeting. Elders Aaron Buzzell, 
Daniel Lord, and John Shepard were consti- 
tuted a council with discretionary power to 
respond. A little later the Strafford Quar- 
terly Meeting, Vermont, was received. In 
this were five churches — Strafford, Tun- 
bridge, Vershire, Corinth, and Brookfield, 
which reported five ordained ministers and 
three hundred and thirty members, and 
added the pleasing statement that " the work 
of God is gloriously spreading in all these 
regions." 

[183] 



Benjamin Randall 

Mr. Randall made his second visit to 
Marshfield and vicinity in August. He was 
gone seventeen days, visited much, and held 
about one religious service, on an average, 
each day of his absence. 

Early in September he started on another 
extended tour in Maine. One dark night he 
lost his way in a dense forest. His horse 
broke through a bridge and both were pre- 
cipitated down a steep bank. But as they 
fell upon a bed of thick bushes, both were 
rescued without serious injury to either. 
These experiences, though sad at the time, 
were reckoned among the sufferings which 
were not worthy to be compared with the 
glory revealed in preaching the gospel for 
the salvation of men. 

He was away from home on this journey 
thirty- three days, attended sixty-one meet- 
ings, and traveled five hundred and seventy- 
four miles. 

One incident illustrative of Mr, Randall's 
total-abstinence principles must stand for 
the many that cannot be admitted. 

[i8 4 ] 



Benjamin Randall 

On an afternoon of December, 1800, he 
left home, purposing to preach the next day 
at Alton; but when about two miles away 
he was attacked with a violent colic, an ill- 
ness to which he was an occasional victim. 
He stopped at a Mrs. Willey's, where, for 
twelve hours, he struggled with excruciating 
pain. At times it was feared he must die. 
But, by the skill of his physician and the 
blessing of God, in a few days he was able 
to be carried home. 

While he was suffering the most acute 
paroxysms of pain, it was suggested that if 
he would drink some liquor he might obtain 
relief. But he positively refused. Where- 
upon a bystander exclaimed : " I believe that 
these spells are sent upon Elder Randall as 
a judgment, because he is so bitterly opposed 
to using ardent spirits." 

This incident illustrates at once the cur- 
rent opinion of the times respecting the use 
of liquors, and Mr. Randall's position on 
the subject. In this he was as much in ad- 
vance of his times as he was on matters 

[185] 



Benjamin Randall 

religious. His rebukes of the drinking 
custom of his times were frequent and 
scathing. 

Monday, May 18, 1801, found Mr. Ran- 
dall on his way to New Hampton, where the 
Quarterly Meeting was to convene. " In the 
evening we held a meeting in Gilmanton — 
a blessed, powerful season." The next day, 
with a company of about forty, he took din- 
ner at Brother Samuel Crockett's, in Mere- 
dith. In their host and family they found 
Christians with large hearts, keeping open 
doors for all of God's people. 

Having been well refreshed with material 
sustenance, and the sweet opportunity for 
song and prayer, in the afternoon they 
moved on in order, two abreast, to the home 
of Deacon Pease, where another company 
was gathered in worship, led by Elder Mar- 
tin. Because of this accession to their num- 
bers, the company had to repair to the or- 
chard for worship. This is reported as " a 
wonderful, very wonderful meeting." 

On Wednesday morning the company set 

[186] 



Benjamin Randall 

off again in double file, now a cavalcade of a 
hundred people on horseback, with Randall 
in the van. Among those who made up this 
procession of Christians were many ex- 
cellent singers. When nearing the church 
edifice, where the crowd had already gath- 
ered, the cavalcade commenced a most 
solemn and impressive hymn. " And as the 
melodious strains from those voices floated 
out on the air, the effect was perfectly thrill- 
ing, not only to those singing, but to the 
waiting assembly." 

At the meeting the devotional fervidness 
soon rose to such a point that many sinners 
began to pray for mercy. The scene was a 
fitting prelude to w r hat was to follow. In 
business all gave excellent attention, though 
about six hundred were present. 

Conference met for business the next 
morning, but for two hours or more there 
w r as no room for business. The religious 
fervidness had risen to such a high pitch 
that it seemed best to allow its expression in 
devotion and worship. In the afternoon, 

[187] 



Benjamin Randall 

Elder Martin preached to the edification 
of all. Others followed with exhortation. 
Then the Lord's Supper was administered. 
"A powerful scene! Indescribably glo- 
rious! We had never witnessed such a 
Quarterly Meeting as this before." 

The new century dawned upon general 
prosperity along all lines of Free Baptist 
activities. From sweeping revivals nearly 
all the churches were able to report acces- 
sions, and several new churches had been 
organized. 



[188] 



XXVI 

DENOMINATIONAL NAME 
1 804- 1 805 

FOR nearly a quarter of a century Mr. 
Randall had been engaged in building 
up churches, and to all his organizations, of 
whatever class, he had applied simply the 
name Baptist. Thus he gave testimony to 
the world that he was not laboring to bring 
out a separate denomination. He held him- 
self as ever, acting within the bounds of the 
great Baptist family, to which family he had 
at all times maintained a perfectly loyal at- 
titude, and in which he still claimed a home. 
And why not ? Ever after receiving baptism 
at the hands of Rev. Mr. Hooper, he had 
lived true to Baptist principles. Nowhere 
had he swerved from them in the least de- 
gree. Hence, on Baptist grounds, he had as 
clear a title to the family name, shield, and 
prestige as the strictest of the strict. 

[189] 



Benjamin Randall 

But, to the regret of Mr. Randall, it 
seemed that the time had come when it was 
best for him and his adherents to be known 
to the world by a distinguishing name. The 
following legislative act shows the epithet 
they accepted : 

State of New Hampshire. 

In the House of Representatives, Decem- 
ber 7, 1804. 

Resolved, That the people in this State, 
known by the name of the Freewill Anti- 
pedobaptist Church and Society, shall be 
considered as a distinct religious sect or de- 
nomination, with all the privileges as such, 
of the constitution. 

Sent up for concurrence, 

John Langdon, Speaker. 

In the Senate, December 8. 

Nicholas Gilman, President. 

Not approved nor returned by His Excel- 
lency, the Governor, it therefore becomes a 
law. 

Joseph Pearsons, Secretary of State. 

[190] 



Benjamin Randall 

It was reported by some of his friends that 
the governor excused himself from signing 
the resolution on the ground that, in his 
view, it was needless; that the Society pos- 
sessed all the rights and immunities before 
that they could have after its passage; that 
by the constitution every religious sect in 
the State really stood on the same footing. 

This view of the governor may have been 
the correct one; that is, as far as related to 
the period after the adoption of the consti- 
tution. Still, the resolution even in that case 
was of great importance, in that it tended to 
set things in a clear and unmistakable light. 
If the dominant sect for these long years 
had not really possessed any legal advantage 
over others, through a lack of proper under- 
standing among the people or for some other 
cause, this sect had always succeeded in 
keeping alive the contrary sentiment. 

There prevailed an impression that in a 
town provided with a minister of the Stand- 
ing Order, a resident who never attended the 
meetings had to be fortified with a certificate 

[191] 



Benjamin Randall 

of membership in another religious body or 
of adherence to it, in order to avoid being 
distrained upon for a tax to support that 
minister. 

From this sentiment arose the fact that 
here and there town officers would ignore 
those certificates and levy upon the pos- 
sessor, who would usually pay the tax rather 
than stand a lawsuit. One historian, refer- 
ring to these conditions, says : 

Indeed, these annoyances were numerous 
and grievous, far more so than those that 
roused our Revolutionary fathers to cut 
loose from the mother country. 

The adoption of the resolution mentioned 
above resulted in no little advantage to the 
cause of our people, securing as it did to our 
denomination in the State a recognized legal 
standing by the side of the dominant sect, 
and sweeping away the last vestige of that 
religious oppression, against which Mr. 
Randall had been so valiantly contending 
ever since he commenced his ministry. 

[192] 



Benjamin Randall 

Our people in Maine, and other religious 
bodies in this State, soon obtained like recog- 
nition. But to Mr. Randall belongs the 
credit of having been the pioneer in this 
contest for religious liberty. 

As to the name under which we obtained 
State recognition, the second prefix soon 
fell into disuse. As " Baptist " was a syno- 
nym for immersed believers only, the word 
" Antipedo " was soon discovered to be su- 
perfluous, and was dropped — dropped be- 
fore it ever got into our literature. As our 
people believed not only in free will, but in 
free grace and open communion as well, 
" will " came to be regarded as super- 
fluous and also restrictive. So this word 
also was dropped, and left us only Free 
Baptists. 

In the statement of the Baptist Brother- 
hood, agreed upon by representatives of the 
Baptist and Free Baptist denominations, in 
a meeting held in Brooklyn, New York, No- 
vember, 1905, among many fraternal ex- 
pressions, we find the following: 

[193] 



Benjamin Randall 

In view of these facts, patent to all stu- 
dents of the situation, and moved by a spirit 
of fraternity, which is affecting the whole 
Christian world, both denominations, by an 
impulse unpremeditated on the human side, 
sought conference on the subject of reuni- 
ting the work. It seemed to many that both 
the letter and the spirit of Christian brother- 
hood called for the abandonment of divisions 
in the body of Christ, which have so little 
to justify and so much to rebuke them. 

On recommendation of the joint commit- 
tees, which met in Brooklyn, in November, 
1905, the following resolution was approved 
by each of the Baptist Societies in their 
meetings at Washington, in May, 1907: 

Resolved, That the Baptists and Free 
Baptists are so closely related by a history 
which long was common, and has always 
been kindred, that they enjoy closer fellow- 
ship and greater similarity in genius and 
spirit than are common between two Chris- 
tian bodies. It is recognized as a fact that 
the original occasion and cause of separation 
between our two bodies have practically dis- 

[194] 



Benjamin Randall 

appeared, and that in all essentials of Chris- 
tian doctrine, as well as of church adminis- 
tration and polity, we are substantially one. 

To this platform of accord was added by 
a joint committee, representing all of the 
agreeing Societies, met in Boston, Massa- 
chusetts, March 28, 1908, the following 
statement : 

Differences, if still existing, may be left, 
where the New Testament leaves them, to 
the teaching of the Scriptures under the 
guidance of the Holy Spirit. 

These joint committees have anticipated 
a transition period. During that period we 
are informed that: 

The basis of union, and the action ac- 
companying it, take a broad and liberal atti- 
tude toward names. These names are sug- 
gested as of equal validity: Baptist, Free 
Baptist, and United Baptist. One is as good 
as another. They may be used interchange- 
ably. Either may include the other. We 
may continue to call ourselves Free Baptists 

[195] 



Benjamin Randall 

and still be in the fellowship and the fold; 
we may term ourselves United Baptists with- 
out ceasing to be either Baptists or Free 
Baptists ; we may use the name Baptist and 
still be Free Baptists. In names no rigid 
conformity is required. 

The wisdom and grace that dominated 
these joint committees are evinced in the 
use of names suggested for this transition 
period. But are not all these qualifying 
terms burdens to be dropped as soon as 
compatible with the safeguarding of pending 
interests ? 

As Free Baptists, may we not consistently 
hold to the simple name that Randall loved 
and honored for the first quarter of a cen- 
tury of his public ministry? He regretfully 
accepted a prefix as a necessity. We have 
carried it for a hundred and ten years. But 
if "it is recognized as a fact that the 
original occasion and cause of separation 
between our two bodies has practically dis- 
appeared/' may we not now gratefully ac- 
cept the magnanimity of our brethren of the 

[i 9 6] 



Benjamin Randall 

larger body, soon drop our distinctive pre- 
fix, and call ourselves, what in heart we 
really are, simply Baptists ? 

Of Washington it has been said : " The 
name needs no prefix. Let it stand in its 
simple grandeur. No other name can find 
a fitting place beside it." 

Of Baptist it may be said: The name 
stands as an exponent of government of the 
people, by the people, for the people. It 
stands for a correctly interpreted Bible, a 
regenerated membership, and a world-wide 
evangelization. " The name needs no pre- 
fix. Let it stand in its simple grandeur. 
No other name can find a fitting place beside 
it." 



[197] 



XXVII 

FAINT YET PURSUING 
1807 

THE opening of this year found Mr. 
Randall at home, sick, suffering, and 
unable to dress himself. But he soon rallied 
so far as to be able, with assistance, to con- 
duct religious services near home and even 
beyond. 

The January Quarterly Meeting was held 
at Sutton. Mr. Randall attended and re- 
ported "a melting season at the opening," 
the spirit of which characterized the entire 
session. General prosperity was reported 
from all sections. Ashby, Weare, and York 
churches were received. 

On the second of February Mr. Randall, 
accompanied by his son William, started for 
the Yearly Meeting at Sandy River, Maine. 
He preached at several places on the way, 
also at the session and on his homeward 

[198] 



Benjamin Randall 

journey. He was known through all the 
region of his journey, and people every- 
where flocked to greet and hear him. On 
this journey he encountered cold, deep 
drifts, storms, and floods; yet he reached 
home in safety after eighteen days. 

The next four months he spent almost 
exclusively in visiting various parts of New 
Hampshire, though most of the time so fee- 
ble that all movements were made with 
difficulty and attended with pain. 

On the twenty-seventh of July, under a 
burning sun, he set out to attend the ordina- 
tion of Stephen Gibson, at Ashby, Massa- 
chusetts, and reached his destination five 
days later. At the ordination, though he 
had been much weakened by hemorrhages 
from the lungs, he preached the sermon, 
offered the prayer of consecration, and gave 
the charge. It was an impressive occasion. 
The next day rain prevented a homeward 
start. In the evening Otis preached, and 
Randall spoke awhile, giving an appropriate 
parting message. 

[199] 



Benjamin Randall 

Returning, Mr. Randall passed through 
Derryfield, where he visited General Stark, 
of Revolutionary fame. In his account of 
the interview, Mr. Randall wrote : " Had 
much interesting conversation." In this, 
probably, Revolutionary experiences in 
which both had at sundry times and dif- 
ferent places participated, furnished sub- 
jects for interesting reminiscences. But it 
is not at all likely that Mr. Randall allowed 
to pass unimproved a good opportunity for 
speaking a word for his Master. The clo- 
sing conversation warrants this assumption. 
General Stark, though professing to be a 
deist, was deeply affected, and with tearful 
eyes exclaimed : " God bless you ! God bless 
you ! God bless you ! I am an old man and 
may stay here but a little while; but my wife 
is younger than I, and may outlive me. I 
shall charge her and my son ever to receive 
you and treat you with respect." 

After an absence of about two weeks, Mr. 
Randall reached home, though nearly ex- 
hausted. He recorded: "There is not a 

[200] 



Benjamin Randall 

town between Ashby and New Durham 
where I have not left traces of my blood in 
very many places." 

The August session of the Yearly Meet- 
ing was to occur at Adams, its new location. 
Mr. Randall had purposed to attend. But 
now that seemed impossible. As a substi- 
tute for his presence, he put some of his 
struggling thoughts on paper and forwarded 
them in the form of a letter : 

New Durham, N. H., August 15, 1807. 

Dear and well beloved in the Lord : 

It is with a degree of trial and pleasure 
that I salute you in this manner. Trial that 
I cannot be with you in bodily presence, for 
which I have been most anxiously longing; 
and pleasure that this one resource is left 
me, through which I, while absent in body, 
can write, and thus bless you in the name of 
the Lord. 

Dear brethren, the cause of God is mine. 
My soul's care and delight is to see it pros- 
per. When able I have spared no labor, 
either of body or mind, whether near or far, 

[201] 



Benjamin Randall 

in heat or cold, by day or night, for the ad- 
vancement of the same. And, glory to God ! 
to this I have the testimony of a good con- 
science. 

But my labors are almost ended, and I 
am about to receive my crown. My body 
is now too weak for me to go to Adams. 
But bless the Lord that I can be there in 
spirit and by letter! And I will take the 
liberty of giving a word of advice, as a 
father to his children, though with humility 
and respect. 

First, to my dear brethren in the minis- 
try : I feel much for you. Your lot is a par- 
ticular one, and much, very much, depends 
upon you as to the promotion or destruction 
of the cause. You, in a certain sense, are 
like a city on a hill. All eyes are upon you. 
You profess to be the representatives of 
Jesus. Consider what an example he set for 
his ambassadors to follow. What humility ! 
What meekness! What godliness! What 
holiness ! Dear brethren, follow this advice, 
Walk in the example of Christ. And when 
the chief Shepherd shall appear, you shall 
receive a crown of glory that fadeth not 
away. 

[202] 



Benjamin Randall 

Second, a word to all: Though enfeebled 
in body, my care for the cause remains un- 
diminished. My mind travels to every part. 
And when looking back to 1780, the year 
when this denomination commenced, how 
thankful I feel for what God has done for 
us. My soul cries out with astonishment! 
" Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let 
us exalt his name together ! " 

Brethren, we have become a somewhat 
numerous people, and I fear are not so hum- 
ble as we should be. Let us, I pray, strive 
to be most Christlike. And, withal, let us 
keep the unity of the spirit in the bonds of 
peace. Let us cleave to the Scriptures — 
make them our only rule of faith and prac- 
tice, both in temporal life and in church 
government. 

But I have more things to utter than I 
can now write with pen and ink, and there- 
fore must forbear. 

Your servant for Christ's sake, 

Benjamin Randall. 

This letter, though expressed in the style 
and under conditions of a past century, is 
worthy of careful perusal and the most can- 

[203] 



Benjamin Randall 

did consideration. It is good for all time 
and for all classes of Christians. 

Somewhat revived, Mr. Randall was car- 
ried in his chaise to the Yearly Meeting held 
at Edgecomb, Maine. He was five days on 
the road, thus reaching his destination by 
easy stages. 

The opening of the meeting was a touch- 
ing scene. There was but the ghostly form 
of the once vigorous leader. All felt as- 
sured that he could be with them no more 
after this. It might seem like presumption, 
but the brethren were anxious for him to 
preach once more at their annual session, 
and to their pressing solicitations he yielded. 

Mr. Randall was cheered and comforted 
by reports of prosperity from nearly all 
sections of the country covered by this con- 
ference. After making a few visits in the 
vicinity, all that his strength would allow, 
he took his final leave of what he had been 
accustomed to call his " New Vineyard." 

After return from Edgecomb it might 
seem that he would now certainly take a 

[204] 



Benjamin Randall 

rest. But the day following his arrival at 
home, the Sabbath, found him at the sanc- 
tuary preaching both forenoon and after- 
noon. Thus he kept on, occasionally record- 
ing in his journal, " Too sick to be out." In 
his case that meant much. 

We have on record the attendance of Mr. 
Randall upon one more Yearly Meeting in 
Maine before the close of this, the last full 
year of his ministry. The meeting opened 
at Gorham, November seventh. In response 
to urgent requests he presided. 

Among many items of business considered 
and acted upon at this session it was voted 
to grant the request of Vermont for the 
February session of the Yearly Meeting. 
The carrying of this motion into effect es- 
tablished the Vermont Yearly Meeting, the 
first session of which was held at Bradford, 
February, 1808. 

But to return to Gorham. In connection 
with worship on the Sabbath, " the power of 
the Lord was wonderful." Monday was a 
most solemn and interesting day. A few 

[205] 



Benjamin Randall 

prayers and exhortations followed the open- 
ing, but who should be " mouth for God " ? 
All minds were instinctively turned toward 
one- — the observed of all. They must hear 
him once more if possible, But how could 
he speak in his extreme weakness? Sitting 
there in his easy chair, pale and haggard, 
how could any expect to hear words from 
him? But no minister present seemed will- 
ing to move, though Mr. Randall urged that 
some brother would. For a time silence 
reigned in the meeting, impressive silence, 
broken at last by a request from Mr. Ran- 
dall to one near, " Please help me to my 
feet." 

He announced as his text i Peter i : 22 : 
" Seeing ye have purified your souls in obey- 
ing the truth through the Spirit unto un- 
feigned love of the brethren, see that ye love 
one another with a pure heart fervently." 
For the time and circumstances no words 
could have been more fitting. His first ut- 
terances were hoarse and hardly audible. 
But as he proceeded his nervous energies 

[206] 



Benjamin Randall 

roused, his utterance became stronger and 
louder, till his words rolled out with much 
the force and resonance of former days. The 
power of God supplemented all his natural 
forces, enabling him for the time to rise 
above his infirmities. Indeed, he seemed 
all voice — voice right from the presence- 
chamber of God, bringing words of big im- 
port, with burning eloquence. 

When through with his final testimony 
for that region, and just ready to fall from 
exhaustion, he was gently helped to his 
chair. The scene was indescribable. Mr. 
Randall recorded in his journal: 

The mighty power and glory of God were 
very refreshing. The Lord enabled me to 
speak with great freedom. 

With deep emotion he took his departure 
from Maine, leaving many " sorrowing 
most of all, that they should see his face no 
more." 

In closing the year Mr Randall made this 
record : 

[207] 



Benjamin Randall 

Here ends my journal for 1807. From 
being so much unwell, I have traveled only 
two thousand five hundred and ninety-three 
miles and attended only two hundred and 
three meetings, besides weddings and re- 
ligious visits. 






[208] 



XXVIII 

FROM GRACE TO GLORY 
l808 

FOR a long time it had been evident that 
the separation of Mr. Randall's soul 
from his feeble body could only be a matter 
of a few months at the longest. The most 
of his remaining days can be regarded as 
only the last flickerings of a candle in its 
socket. 

Mr. Randall regarded it as a special dis- 
pensation of grace that he was able to 
preach on the first Sabbath of the year, 
which he did from John 4 : 24, 26, and 29. 
The reaction necessitated his keeping his 
room for a few days. But he recovered 
strength enough to visit Alton, where he 
was caught in a violent storm and his return 
was impeded by snow-drifts. The following 
transcript is made from his journal of Jan- 
uary seventeenth: 

p [209] 



Benjamin Randall 

At the house of God in much feebleness, 
yet the Spirit raised me up to speak from 
Luke 17 : 32. A solemn scene. Returned 
home in great weakness. 

At the February Monthly Meeting in New 
Durham, while the brethren were enjoying 
a good season at the church, Mr. Randall 
says: 

In my home confinement I felt moved to 
make a new surrender of myself to the Lord. 
Had I a thousand such souls as mine, I could 
trust them all with the Lord Jesus. 

On the last day of February, which was 
the Sabbath, he was a little better, though 
very weak. He recorded : 

Was carried by sleigh to God's house 
and spoke awhile, but was so overcome that 
with difficulty I was gotten home. 

The matter of his material support dur- 
ing these months of physical decline is 
worthy of more than passing notice. He was 
a good financial manager, and during his 

[210] 



Benjamin Randall 

effective years, by close calculation and 
economy, from the products of his little 
farm, and the benevolence of the people 
whom he served, he had succeeded in com- 
fortably supporting his family. And now 
that his ability as a breadwinner had failed, 
it is interesting to note how some of his 
favorite texts of Scripture had illustration. 
Among these was : " Trust in the Lord, and 
do good ; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and 
verily thou shalt be fed." Also this, " Lo, I 
am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
world." 

Without human prearrangement, people 
at Sandwich, New Hampton, Portsmouth, 
and other parts of the State, made up loads 
of provisions, consisting of everything need- 
ful for family consumption, which were de- 
livered at the door of the Randall house, 
each arriving when its contents was most 
needed. One of these loads was collected 
and delivered by two enterprising women 
who lived many leagues to the northwest 
of New Durham. 

[211] 



Benjamin Randall 

When possible, Mr. Randall would be up, 
studying the Scriptures, writing, visiting, or 
doing whatever might seem most likely to 
promote the greatest good. During this last 
year the burden of his heart, with that of 
Paul, was " the care of all the churches." 

As the May Quarterly Meeting ap- 
proached, though in feebleness and suffer- 
ing, he prepared his final address to the 
brethren. It manifests his mental vigor and 
spiritual devotion, and his abiding interest 
in all that could make for the welfare of the 
churches. It is as interesting as it is long, 
so long that only selected portions can here 
be given. It is noteworthy that in this last 
written message he still holds to the simple 
name — to his heart so dear — Baptist. 

New Durham, N. H., May 18, 1808. 

To the Baptist Quarterly Meeting to hold 
at Andover, N. H. 

My very dear Brethren and Friends : 

I thank God that, as a disciple of Jesus, 
I am permitted once more to write you. 

[212] 



Benjamin Randall 

May the God of grace manifest his pres- 
ence and power in your assembly and roll 
the weight of his cause upon your souls. 
May your meeting together be more than 
simply to salute each other, rejoice together, 
pray, praise, preach, and go home happy. It 
may properly be all this, but it should be 
more, much more! 

My dear brethren in the ministry, you 
are precious in the sight of the Lord, and 
exceedingly precious to my soul. I know 
your work is great. I know your trials are 
many — within and without. You greatly 
fear that you will not do your work aright 
and agreeable to the mind of God. You go 
to it with trembling in view of its greatness 
and your own weakness. 

But be not discouraged. The Lord will 
stand by you and give you strength equal 
to your day. Only trust in him and he will 
be all you want or need in every state. 

I must here set my seal to this point. I 
have been in the ministry of God's word 
thirty-one years last March, and have ever 
found him, in every state, all I needed. And 
bless his wonder-working name, he is that 
to me at the present moment ! His grace is 

[213] 



Benjamin Randall 

everything in sickness and in health. How 
wonderfully has that grace been displayed 
to me during my long, tedious confinement! 
It has made my prison a palace. I have 
never had one moment of discontent or im- 
patience. Neither have I thought the time 
long. But I have had such overpowering 
manifestations of God's love that I could 
not contain them. 

I am more and more confirmed in the 
doctrines which the Lord gave me to preach. 
I remain strong in the faith of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. I am sitting and waiting for 
whatever the will of my Father may be, and 
I know he will do all things right. 

Ye ministers of Jesus, how happy is 
your lot! How glorious your reward! Not 
only hereafter, but here! Never utter a 
complaining word. Why, there is no other 
such a state attainable this side of glory! 
No state so heavenly as that of a minister 
of Jesus Christ! What a heaven of heavens 
it is ! How is my soul enraptured when call- 
ing to mind the glorious scenes I have en- 
joyed in my ministry! This is reward 
enough for wearing out a thousand lives, 
were they as long as the longest that ever 
lived. 

[214] 



Benjamin Randall 

Cheer up ! Cheer up ! Ye poor, yet rich ; 
ye weak, yet strong; ye trembling, yet va- 
liant ministers of Jesus. Wear out in the 
cause and rejoice in the privilege! 

Saints, arise, shine! Hold on and hold 
out! I will soon meet you in glory. Pray 
for your unworthy brother. I die, your 
servant for Jesus' sake, 

Benjamin Randall. 

During the next five months Mr. Randall 
was not only confined to his house, but for 
the most part to his bed. He received many 
visitors, and religious services were occa- 
sionally held at his home, much to the edifi- 
cation of his soul, ready to receive as to 
impart some spiritual gift. 

A few hours before his death the Lord 
gave him strength for a brief space, so that 
he talked, prayed, and praised God loud 
enough to be heard in an adjoining room. 
Then followed a relapse, from which he ral- 
lied only enough to whisper, " My soul is 
full of Jesus. I long to depart." Here his 
strength failed again, and we may fittingly 

[215] 



Benjamin Randall 

allow Pope to express, in substance, what 
he might have said : 

Vital spark of heavenly flame, 
Quit, oh, quit this mortal frame; 
Trembling, hoping, lingering, flying— 
Oh, the pain, the bliss of dying! 

The world recedes ; it disappears ; 
Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears 

With sounds seraphic ring; 
Lend, lend your wings; I mount, I fly! 
O grave, where is thy victory? 

O death, where is thy sting? 

At two o'clock in the morning of October 
22, 1808, the white soul of Benjamin Ran- 
dall went out and up. This was on Monday, 
and the funeral occurred four days later. 
Rev. John Buzzell, the one chosen to con- 
duct the services, says : " Mr. Randall set- 
tled all his temporal concerns, made every 
arrangement in respect to his funeral, indi- 
cated the man to preach the sermon, and 
planned the order of the procession." 

The host present at the funeral was a 
reminder of the most largely attended 
Yearly Meetings at New Durham. Mr. Buz- 

[216] 



Benjamin Randall 

zell announced his text from 2 Timothy 
4 : 7, 8 : " I have fought a good fight, I 
have finished my course, I have kept the 
faith." Seventeen ordained ministers were 
present. Six, the oldest, served as bearers. 
One walked with the widow. The other ten 
took their places next to the relatives, as 
mourners. In the rear of these the local 
church-members fell into line. Then fol- 
lowed Mr. Randall's physicians. Next, all 
civil and military officers present. Finally, 
citizens in general. These aggregated a very 
long procession, forcibly reminding one of 
the event described in Acts 8 : 2 : " And 
devout men carried Stephen to his burial 
and made great lamentation over him." 

Mr. Randall's wife survived him till May 
12, 1826. They had eight children: Robert 
Oram, Mary Shannon, Benjamin Walton, 
Margaretta Frederica, Ursula, William, 
Joanna, and Henry Allen. 

There can be no more fitting closing of 
this chapter than a transcript of a record 
found in the " Free Baptist Cyclopedia " : 

[217] 



Benjamin Randall 

September 14, 1859, the plain marble slab 
that marked the resting-place of Benjamin 
Randall was replaced by a beautiful monu- 
ment of Italian marble, erected by the de- 
nomination. Over one thousand persons 
listened to the impressive religious services 
at the dedication. 

He sleeps amid the beauties of nature. 
Pleasant fields are all around. The wind in 
the forest at the southeast chants a requiem ; 
a rivulet southwest glides peacefully along, 
and all day long the sun rests graciously 
upon that hilltop. 



[218] 



Benjamin Randall 




THE RANDALL MONUMENT 



[219] 



XXIX 

MR. RANDALL IN PEN-PICTURE 

HAVING followed Mr. Randall through 
his early life and public labors, we 
may now consider him in his person — in 
what he was as a man, and in some of the 
conditions of his success in the ministry. 

In stature Mr. Randall was about five feet 
nine inches, of an erect, compact build — 
well formed in every way. His hands were 
small and delicate ; chest, full ; forehead, high 
and broad; eyes, dark gray, approaching 
hazel in color; nose, Grecian in form; 
mouth, expressive of firmness; hair, dark 
auburn, worn long as was the manner of the 
times — especially with clergymen. Mr. Ran- 
dall threw his hair back in negligee, but it 
had a tendency to part in the middle and 
curl, which he deplored, as he thought it 
might be regarded by some as savoring of 
vanity on his part. 

[220] 



Benjamin Randall 

His movements were energetic but grace- 
ful. His mind was quick to comprehend, of 
a meditative turn, inclined to look thor- 
oughly into things. He was not given to 
credulity, believing only on conclusive evi- 
dence. His order, as the phrenologists 
would say, was prominent; taste, delicate; 
conscientiousness, large; will, when once 
convinced by evidence, unyielding. He was 
firm to dictates of duty and fearless of dan- 
ger. In short, the prominent characteristics 
of Mr. Randall were such as combine in 
heroes and martyrs. 

As to clothing, Mr. Randall selected good 
material, and would be satisfied with noth- 
ing short of a perfect fit. His coat was of 
clerical cut. Till late in life he wore trou- 
sers of the colonial style, buckled at the knee, 
with long hose and broad-buckled shoes. 

Before failing health required an easier 
mode of travel, Mr. Randall rode on horse- 
back. But during his last years, except in 
winter, when he used a sleigh, he rode in a 
chaise. This allowed his wife to accompany 

[221] 



Benjamin Randall 

him, which was at times a necessity. When 
riding on horseback, he wore a kind of over- 
alls to protect his clothing from dust and 
mud. At the end of his journey he removed 
this outer garment and then, with but little 
attention to his person, he appeared present- 
able. 

Himself a model of neatness, he could 
hardly see how a real sloven could enter the 
kingdom of heaven. We are not to regard 
this carefulness about dress as the outcrop- 
ping of vanity, but rather as arising from 
his natural love of order. That trait would 
have compelled him to the same course if, 
like Robinson Crusoe, he had been the sole 
occupant of an island. 

Naturally kind-hearted, frank, and gener- 
ous, Mr. Randall was inclined to make all 
about him happy. His influence was like 
that of the gentle dew — unobtrusive but re- 
freshing. This nature, supplemented by the 
grace of God, gave him access to the hearts 
of all ages and all classes. 

One element of personal power was the 

[222] 



Benjamin Randall 

fact that, like Savonarola, he knew his Bible 
and believed in his divine mission. Another 
element was his strong, unwavering faith 
in God. What was said of another great 
religious leader, with slight adaptation, is 
equally applicable to Mr. Randall : 

He was a man of audacious courage be- 
cause of absolute faith. He believed that 
Christianity was adapted to the universal 
needs of humanity. He believed that hu- 
manity had a capacity, God-given, to appre- 
hend and accept Christianity. His courage 
carried with it a great hope. He believed, 
really believed, that one with God was a 
majority; and he constantly acted on that 
belief. With all this intensity of spiritual 
conviction, and consequent courageous hope- 
fulness, he resembled neither the mystics nor 
the monks. He belonged neither to the 
Pietists nor the Puritans. He was intense 
without being narrow, bold without being 
pugnacious, and spiritual without being 
ascetic. 

If Mr. Randall had been a college gradu- 
ate the fact w r ould have been much more 

[223] 



Benjamin Randall 

gratifying to a not altogether unjustifiable 
pride on the part of his disciples. As it was, 
he had fair school privileges, considering the 
times, and he improved them. He collected 
all available literature and was an omnivor- 
ous reader. What Dr. Newell Dwight Hillis 
said of Horace Greeley has equal applica- 
tion to Mr. Randall : 

God gave him a hungry mind, which 
literally consumed facts of nature and life. 
Like a locust, he consumed every dry twig 
and every green branch of knowledge. He 
was trained in the school of experience, and 
graduated at the university of hard knocks. 

In addition to a large stock of general in- 
formation, Mr. Randall was mighty in the 
Scriptures ; and his logical turn of mind gave 
his message homiletical order. But the most 
important factor of his furnishings was the 
enduement of the Holy Spirit. Without this 
he felt himself utterly unfit for sacred serv- 
ice. But "after that the Holy Ghost had 
come " upon him, he could say with Isaiah : 
" The Lord God hath given me the tongue of 

[224] 



Benjamin Randall 

the learned, that I should know how to speak 
a word in season." 

Mr. Randall systematized the religious 
doctrines of the Bible as he understood 
them, and sustained each with the strongest 
proof-texts bearing upon it. He did not 
wrench any of these doctrines out of their 
proper relations to others, but held and 
taught them as a harmonious whole. 

As a matter of fact, it may be said that, 
as to essentials, Mr. Randall projected that 
system of doctrines a hundred years beyond 
his times, and the churches are now busy 
pushing them over the world. 



[225] 



XXX 

THE MINISTRY UNDER RANDALL 

AS churches began to multiply under the 
ministry of Mr. Randall and his asso- 
ciate laborers, the questions of church gov- 
ernment and church nurture were forced 
upon their consideration. It was seen that 
this work naturally divided itself into de- 
partments, and was likely to be more effi- 
ciently done if committed to different classes 
of ministers. It was found that such an ar- 
rangement would be entirely compatible 
with the parity of the ministry and with 
New Testament usages. Hence there arose 
the orders in the ministry known as teaching 
elders, ruling elders, licentiates, and lay 
preachers. 

In Randall's times the highest order of 
ministers in the denomination were called 
teaching elders. The prefix was to indicate, 
in part, the nature of their work, and in 

[226] 



Benjamin Randall 

part to differentiate them from ruling elders. 
They were expected to be as thoroughly in- 
formed as possible as to the doctrines and 
usages held by the denomination, and to 
transmit a knowledge of the same to the de- 
veloping ministry, who in turn should " be 
able to teach others also." They were to 
administer the ordinances and, under direc- 
tion of conference, though local in residence, 
serve the churches at large as evangelists. 
Above all, they were to preach the Lord's 
gospel in its fulness. 

The nurture of the churches required pas- 
toral attentions which the teaching elders, 
because of the itinerant nature of their 
work, could not give. Hence the order of 
ruling elders. The ruling elder was a local 
pastor. He was to act as standing modera- 
tor in all meetings of the church, inspect the 
state of the treasury, approve the records, 
and, with the clerk, sign all church docu- 
ments. He was to " improve his gift pub- 
licly, as God might call, and administer the 
ordinances in case of the sickness or ab- 

[227] 



Benjamin Randall 

sence of a teaching elder." This order, with 
its necessity, passed with the settlement of 
teaching elders as pastors. Then also 
the prefix " teaching " dropped out of use, 
and ordained ministers were known simply 
as elders. 

Licentiates were licensed preachers in 
training for ordination. They might per- 
form all the functions of the regular minis- 
try, except the administration of the ordi- 
nances. 

Lay preachers might appoint and conduct 
religious services as opportunity should 
open, and as they might interpret the will 
of God. Members of this order were use- 
ful as general assistants in church work, 
and some who began as lay preachers de- 
veloped into teaching elders. 

For assignment, ministers of all grades 
held themselves subject to the direction 
of Quarterly or Yearly Meetings. It was 
the custom of churches, and even of commu- 
nities where there was no religious organi- 
zation, to apply to the sessions for minis- 

[228] 



Benjamin Randall 

terial help. These requests would be con- 
sidered in connection with available forces 
in the ministry, and assignments made ac- 
cordingly. 

When a brother thus received an appoint- 
ment, he was considered in duty bound to go, 
whether he had been previously consulted 
in the matter or not. And entire submission 
was the rule. These missions might termi- 
nate in a few days, or continue for several 
weeks, as the interest might indicate. 

Respecting material support, for the first 
forty years of its organic life, about the 
only reward the denomination could offer its 
ministry was that of Mazzini, the Italian 
patriot, to the young men of his country, 
" Come and suffer." A paragraph in Doc- 
tor Stewart's history on this subject de- 
serves the transcription which, in substance, 
is here given it. 

! It was then an untried experiment to 
leave the support of the ministry to the vol- 
untary contributions of the people. But it 
was the gospel ground, and Free Baptist 

[229] 



Benjamin Randall 

ministers were ready to hazard their all in 
the trial. So anxious were they to secure 
their end — the removal of all coercive means 
for sustaining the cause of Christ — that 
they voluntarily subjected themselves to 
great privations and hardships. 

They not only refused to be supported by 
taxes imposed by law, but generally declined 
to be parties to an agreement for stipulated 
salaries, receiving only what individuals 
were disposed to give. And during this 
transition state, this breaking down of a 
long-established compulsory usage, and the 
building up of a voluntary one, during a 
period of nearly forty years, the Free Bap- 
tist ministry stood as a pledge to the world 
that religion would be sustained and the 
spiritual wants of the people would be cared 
for, without the aid of civil law. 

Such a revolution in the church could not 
be effected without sacrifice. And God 
raised up those self-denying men to show 
what could and would be done by a Church 
cut loose from State patronage. God gave 

[230] 



Benjamin Randall 

freely of his spirit to our fathers, and they 
laid all upon the altar of consecration. They 
would be satisfied only when men were left 
as free to sustain religion as they were to 
accept it. And they succeeded. But our 
people saw later that it was entirely consist- 
ent with the voluntary support of the minis- 
try that pledges be made in advance and 
paid as needed, on the instalment plan. 

As to education, the preliminary training 
of ministers under Randall was much the 
same as that of doctors, lawyers, and civic 
officers of the times. They had generally 
the best furnishings that the common schools 
could give them, and picked up additional 
equipment on their respective lines as oppor- 
tunity opened, 

The young men of our people who felt 
called to the ministry pushed specific pre- 
paratory studies by the use of the best helps 
available. Respecting books, whatever they 
had or lacked, the Bible was their principal 
text-book. Perhaps the very paucity of 
general literature enabled them the better to 

[231] 



Benjamin Randall 

concentrate their minds on this " compen- 
dium of all knowledge/' as a great author 
has called the Bible. 

An eminent literary authority has said: 
"If you want to make a versatile man, turn 
a boy loose in a library. If you want a boy 
to have distinction, lock him out of a li- 
brary, and send him into solitude with the 
English Bible, Bunyan's c Pilgrim's Prog- 
ress/ and ^Esop's ' Fables/ " Mr. Lincoln 
was a pretty good illustration of this state- 
ment; for, after his six months in a log 
schoolhouse, these three books constituted 
his library during his formative years. In 
speaking of the Bible, Scott called it the in- 
comparable book. Froude said that the Bible 
was in itself a liberal education. 

From a large accumulation of facts, show- 
ing that our fathers made the study of the 
Scriptures a specialty, a few are subjoined. 
Rev. Ebenezer Knowlton, the son of a min- 
ister associated with Randall, says: "My 
father, Elders Perkins, Clark, Place, Dyer, 
and others used to sit hours together in our 

[232] 



Benjamin Randall 

front room, with Bible and concordance in 
hand, studying and proving to each other 
what the Scriptures teach." Thus, in their 
private studies, parlor gatherings, and min- 
isters' conferences, like the noble Bereans, 
" they received the word with all readiness 
of mind, and searched the Scriptures." The 
thoroughness of this search, and the famil- 
iarity attained with the Scriptures, was, in 
many cases, remarkable. Occasionally one 
became almost a living concordance; while 
most of them were able readily to turn to 
any passage desired without consulting a 
concordance. 

But, however important a knowledge of 
the Scriptures may be, for greatest efficiency 
ministers need more. Special schools for 
the training of our ministry had establish- 
ment later, but none of these existed dur- 
ing the first decades of our denominational 
history. 

As the best available substitute for some- 
thing better, in 1793 elders' conferences 
were organized. These developed into veri- 
fy] 



Benjamin Randall 

table divinity institutes. They were held in 
different places covered by the churches. 
The sessions were held four times a year, 
and sometimes continued several days. The 
constituency included teaching elders, ruling 
elders, licensed preachers, lay preachers, and 
deacons. Of these, there were sometimes 
more than fifty in attendance. 

Among the benefits sought by these insti- 
tutes were harmony in doctrine, sermonic 
methods, pulpit decorum, and pastoral effi- 
ciency. The substance of the oral instruc- 
tions given appeared later in works on doc- 
trinal theology, homiletics, sacred rhetoric, 
pastoral theology, and other subjects taught 
in divinity schools. 

Respecting results of these sessions, the 
following paragraph, taken from Stewart's 
" History," may be accepted as good author- 
ity: 

The influence of these meetings was 
highly beneficial; occurring as they did, four 
times a year, and continuing as they did, for 
two days, including much of the intervening 

[234] 



Benjamin Randall 

night The lectures of those wise, experi- 
enced, and, some of them, learned men, must 
have been interesting, instructive, and use- 
ful. The elders' conference was, indeed, a 
most excellent and instructive school 

Hosea Quinby, D. D., a college gradu- 
ate, and for many years principal of high- 
grade schools, in referring to these confer- 
ences, speaks in stronger terms than does 
Doctor Stewart respecting their beneficial 
effects upon our early ministry. 

With a knowledge of facts which war- 
ranted the assertions of these two conserva- 
tive men, we are forced to admit that our 
fathers, in these conferences and other as- 
semblies, and by private study secured to 
themselves the very best means available for 
developing their minds and otherwise pre- 
paring themselves for the work committed 
to their charge. 

As to their success, the following inci- 
dents are illustrative. An aged lawyer of 
Boston, a Congregationalist, said in sub- 
stance : 

[235] 



Benjamin Randall 

In my younger days I was accustomed, 
more or less frequently, to listen to some of 
the men Randall trained. When fully 
aroused to their subject they were men of 
real power, mighty in the Scriptures. I 
often hear those from Andover, but none are 
equal in the word of God to these men. 

Another incident is to the point. A minis- 
ter trained after the manner of Randall 
preached one half day in Portland, Maine, 
and a college-educated minister preached in 
the same pulpit the other half. A number of 
lawyers, being in the city at the time, heard 
both. After the last service, as they were 
together, one who was acquainted with the 
preachers remarked : " One of the men who 
preached to-day had college education and 
the other had not; which was the college 
man?" The unanimous answer indicated 
the one who had been trained under Randall 
as the college man. 

Because the fathers were human, they 
had faults and limitations. But, as a rule, 
they were men of sterling sense, deep piety, 

[236] 



Benjamin Randall 

and high purpose. They adapted themselves 
to the times in which they lived. God gave 
them a work, and they did it. He gave them 
a message, and they delivered it. God ac- 
cepted their efforts, and abundantly blessed 
them for the betterment of both Church and 
State. 

When the fathers are mentioned it be- 
hooves us, their spiritual descendants, to 
lift our hats and bow very low. 

But new times demand new men and im- 
proved methods. With the lapse of time, 
competition in all departments of business 
has grown sharper, and demands upon all 
learned professions have become more ex- 
acting. 

Here behold the providence of God! 
Just in proportion to the advancement of 
standards has been the increase in educa- 
tional facilities. 

Divinely called young men are needed 
for the service of the churches. But those 
who would emulate the fathers must adjust 
themselves to the exigencies of current 

[237] 



Benjamin Randall 

times. To do their best work for humanity 
and for God, they must avail themselves of 
the best culture possible to them. They must 
then have all their natural and acquired 
abilities supplemented by power from on 
high. 



[238] ! 



PART II 



POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE 



XXXI 



THE LARGER GROWTH OF A FOUNDER'S 
THOUGHTS 



IT has been said that the distinguishing 
features of any religious body, however 
remote from its origin, may be traced to the 
characteristics of its founder; that, however 
diversified its operations, these operations 
are but expansions of germs present in the 
heart, if not ideals, of its founder. 

Whoever has carefully studied the subject 
of the preceding chapters must recognize the 
application of this general statement to the 
relations of the Free Baptist denomination 
to Benjamin Randall. 

Are we insistent upon a regenerated mem- 
bership? Mr. Randall would accept none 
except on the clearest evidence of such an 
experience. 

Have we an efficient system of church 
government? The system which he be- 

R [241] 



Benjamin Randall 

queathed to the denomination, with a few 
modifications and expansions to adapt it to 
new conditions, is still operative and ideal. 

Have we our several departments of mis- 
sions? Mr. Randall spent his effective life 
in home mission work, and the Master's last 
commission was a favorite theme of his 
preaching. 

Have we a popular sentiment for educa- 
tion and for educational institutions of all 
grades? Mr. Randall was respectably edu- 
cated for his times, was a lifelong student, 
and advocated the largest possible educa- 
tion of his disciples. 

Have we, as a people, always been in the 
forefront of temperance reform? Mr. Ran- 
dall was a total abstainer, and smote with 
giant blows the drinking customs of his 
times. 

Were our people pioneers in the antago- 
nism to American slavery? Benjamin, when 
a boy, accompanied his father, Captain Ran- 
dall, to Southern ports, and while the ship's 
cargo was being handled, witnessed the 

[242] 



Benjamin Randall 

crack of the driver's whip which drew blood 
from the bare backs of slaves. His tender 
heart was shocked by the sight; and during 
his ministry he both privately and publicly 
declared against the system of slavery. 

Are we giving special attention to the re- 
ligious education of our children and young 
people? Mr. Randall held special meetings 
for the religious instruction of children and 
youth; and wherever he went these classes 
flocked around him for the pleasant greet- 
ings with which he always saluted them. 

We are quite sure that those best ac- 
quainted with the spirit which animated the 
subject of this story will sustain the asser- 
tion that our efforts for a regenerated mem- 
bership, an expanded church, a world-wide 
evangelism, an educated constituency, and 
all-round reforms are emanations from the 
heart of Benjamin Randall. 

It is fitting that some of these posthumous 
influences which have taken organized form, 
as well as others which refuse classification, 
have more specific mention. 

[^43] 



XXXII 

CHURCH GOVERNMENT 

OUR system of church government is 
democratic in that it arises from its 
constituency. It is modeled after American 
civil government. The local church repre- 
sents the town; the Quarterly Meeting or 
Association, the county; the Yearly Meet- 
ing, the State; and General Conference, the 
nation. 

For thirty-five years after the organiza- 
tion, in 1792, of the first Yearly Meeting, 
that was the highest tribunal of the denomi- 
nation. But, as the circle of churches en- 
larged, and Yearly Meetings increased, the 
greatest efficiency demanded a central or- 
ganization that could develop and direct 
philanthropic enterprises and properly rep- 
resent the denomination to the world. On 
October 11-14, 1827, that body became the 
General Conference. 

[244] 




REV. ENOCH PLACE 

Moderator of the First General Conference 



Benjamin Randall 

This first conference convened at Tun- 
bridge, Vermont. In addition to its dele- 
gates it had a large attendance, in which 
several States were represented. The busi- 
ness sessions were held mornings and eve- 
nings, leaving the afternoons for meetings 
of worship. Reports were received from the 
several Yearly Meetings, which included re- 
vivals, accessions to churches, new churches 
organized, church edifices built, ministers 
ordained, and so forth. All business intro- 
duced was referred to appropriate commit- 
tees, and action upon their reports con- 
stituted the principal business of the 
conference. 

As matters that had consideration, and 
upon which opinions were recorded at the 
conference, show the mental and spiritual 
trend of the fathers, a few are here noted. 

It was agreed that regeneration and 
baptism were essential to church-member- 
ship; that each church should have full au- 
thority to discipline its own members, but 
a minister should not be received or excluded 

[245] 



Benjamin Randall 

without the advice of an elders' conference 
or a council of ministers; that church, Quar- 
terly Meeting, and Yearly Meeting clerks 
make their annual reports with great care, 
giving full statistics ; that the ministry must 
be experimentally pious, called of God, led 
by the Spirit, and holy in life. 

Doctor Stewart, in referring to the men 
who constituted this first conference, says: 
" Their wisdom is seen in the fact that they 
attempted but little, yet accomplished much." 

The conference had a cordial reception by 
the local church and community, and gener- 
ous entertainment was provided. The dele- 
gates parted in love, having an increased at- 
tachment each for the other, and returned 
to their respective fields with broadened 
views and increased love for humanity and 
for God. 

In order to get the business of the denomi- 
nation thoroughly in hand, the conference 
held its next six sessions annually, and the 
four succeeding, biennially. Since then they 
have been held triennially. 

[246] 



Benjamin Randall 

At the session of the conference held in 
1 87 1, arrangements were made for the ap- 
pointment of a Conference Board. This 
Board became a fact at the next session, 
held in 1874. At first it consisted of seven 
members, but in the 1892 session they were 
increased to twenty-one, one-third of whom 
should be women. 

The duties imposed upon this Board were 
many and various, but may be included in 
this provision : It was to " Act for the con- 
ference in the interim of sessions." 

In 1894 the missionary societies, educa- 
tion society, and other benevolent organi- 
zations of the denomination were placed 
under the executive management of the Con- 
ference Board. 

Judged by the standard of best results for 
the least expenditure of time, labor, and 
treasure, our system of government, from 
church to General Conference, is nearly or 
quite ideal. 



U47] 



XXXIII 

ATTITUDE AS TO INTOXICANTS 

IN the early years of our national history 
liquors were used as a panacea, and 
most of the well used them as preventives. 
Mr. Randall was subject to attacks of acute 
colic. When thus taken on the road he 
would sometimes call at the nearest house 
for relief. The remedy generally offered, 
and as often declined, was liquor. Mr. Ran- 
dall was a total abstainer, and never lost a 
good opportunity to antagonize the drinking 
customs of his times. His disciples were 
like-minded, and their public utterances 
against the use of intoxicants were so far 
in advance of their times as to be seldom well 
received, and often brought upon them mob 
violence. 

As early as 1820, Rev. John Buzzell, of 
Maine, because of his activity in temperance 
reform, had become very unpopular with 

[248] 



Benjamin Randall 

rumsellers and certain lewd fellows of the 
baser sort. Threats of personal violence 
were in the air, and some of them came to 
his ears. But if they had any effect, they 
deepened his purpose to throw the full 
weight of his influence against an evil so 
intrinsically and manifestly wicked. 

A desperado chose his opportunity on 
Portland bridge, over which he knew Mr. 
Buzzell must pass on a certain night, in 
order to reach his home at Parsonsfield. As 
Mr. Buzzell approached the center of the 
bridge he was confronted by one whom he 
knew to be a local tough. After declaring 
his murderous purpose and emphasizing it 
with a blood-curdling oath, the fellow drew 
a pistol, took deliberate aim, and fired. At 
that instant Mr. Buzzell's horse stumbled 
and fell upon one knee, allowing the bullet 
to pass harmlessly over his master's head. 
Buzzell, in that deep, mellow voice which 
made the gospel message that fell from his 
lips so effective, calmly replied, " Vengeance 
is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord." The 

[249] 



Benjamin Randall 

authorities, by the interposition of Mr. Buz- 
zell, were dissuaded from making an arrest. 
But death, in the form of retributive justice, 
as it would seem, fell upon the man; and 
just one week from the time of the encoun- 
ter on the bridge, Mr. Buzzell was called to 
conduct his funeral. 

The first general temperance awakening 
began in 1826, with the organization, in 
Boston, of the American Temperance So- 
ciety. Free Baptists, who for several years, 
and in different parts of the country, had 
been engaged in the work that this body was 
organized to do, at once became its coad- 
jutors. 

Twenty-five years later Gen. Neal Dow 
was leading a temperance campaign over 
Maine, which culminated in the first State 
prohibitory law. That movement had no 
more fearless champions than Free Baptist 
ministers; it had no more loyal supporters 
at the polls than Free Baptist laymen. 

Free Baptist women have not only favored 
the temperance crusade led by their breth- 

[250] 



Benjamin Randall 

ren, but have been in it. While the work of 
the great majority has been of a quiet and 
educational nature, many have distinguished 
themselves in associated efforts, through the 
press and from the platform. 

For instance, Mrs. E. Burlingame Cheney, 
wife of Doctor Cheney, late president of 
Bates College, former editor of " The Mis- 
sionary Helper/' now a member of the Gen- 
eral Conference Board, as president of the 
Rhode Island Woman's Christian Temper- 
ance Union, was a potent factor in securing 
State constitutional prohibition for 1884- 
1887. To accomplish this, she planned, 
worked, wrote, and lectured to the end of 
the campaign. As a prominent lawyer was 
passing from a crowded opera-house at the 
close of one of her lectures, he remarked: 
" I never heard that subject so ably handled 
before." A leading politician of another 
city, referring to this effort, said, " I never 
saw a presidential campaign better man- 
aged." 

The first woman to be honored by a niche 

[251] 



Benjamin Randall 

in our National Hall of Fame — whose 
statue was, with fitting ceremonies, unveiled 
on February 17, 1905 — was Frances E. Wil- 
lard. One of her biographers said that she 
was descended from a noble, religious ances- 
try. Just so. Miss Willard's parents, her 
grandparents on both sides, and her great- 
grandmother on her father's side, were Free 
Baptists. As many letters by her own 
hand clearly testify, Miss Willard loved her 
ancestral church, and united with another 
only as a matter of local convenience. And 
such were the moral and spiritual conditions 
under which she was evolved who was de- 
clared to be, at the unveiling of her statue, 
" The World's Greatest Woman Tem- 
perance Worker." 

The first session of General Conference 
did but little more than organize. At the 
second session, held in 1828, among the prin- 
ciples for which it declared was that of tem- 
perance reform. If all its utterances on the 
subject, from that time to the close of the 
last session, were compiled, they would make 

[252] 



Benjamin Randall 

a respectable volume. These declarations 
evince intelligent adaptation to their respect- 
ive times and the current conflicts. They 
all had able discussion on the floor of con- 
ference, and were duly given to the public in 
periodical literature. 

General Conference is a fair exponent of 
the denomination for which it stands. The 
leading political parties — and some of the 
lesser ones — are always represented in its 
constituency; yet its action has always been 
non-partisan. It believes in and advocates 
abstinence for the individual and prohibi- 
tion for the nation ; but courteously concedes 
the right of individual conscience respecting 
the political party through which each may 
seek local or national righteousness. Among 
recent utterances of conference on temper- 
ance reform were these words : 

" We will never retreat, we will 
never change our position except to ad- 
VANCE, AND WE WILL BE HEARD," 



[253] 



XXXIV 

HOME MISSIONS 

IN the early settlement of New England 
many isolated communities were without 
the common means of grace. Mr. Randall 
and his colaborers felt themselves especially 
commissioned to carry the gospel to such 
communities. Like Paul, they were " am- 
bitious to preach the gospel, not where 
Christ was already named, lest" they 
" should build upon another man's founda- 
tion," but in localities neglected and to peo- 
ple for whom no religious privileges had 
been provided. 

At first these missionaries went forth on 
their own initiative, moved by their own in- 
terpretation of God's will. Sometimes their 
motives were misunderstood, and they met 
with opposition — even persecution. But 
generally they were cordially welcomed, and 
revivals followed their efforts. 

[254] 




REV. JOHN COLBY 
A Pioneer Home Missionary 



Benjamin Randall 

After the establishment of Quarterly and 
Yearly Meetings, representatives of such 
destitute localities would in some cases send 
petitions to these assemblies for religious 
help. Such requests were always laid be- 
fore the conference and considered with 
favor, and assignments were made accord- 
ing to evangelists available. An ideal team 
for evangelism would consist of two — an 
ordained minister and a licensed preacher as 
his assistant. In travel, the " elder " would 
commonly be on horseback and his disciple 
trudging at his side. 

Soon after the passing of Mr. Randall, 
his successors in the ministry seemed simul- 
taneously inspired with the spirit of church 
extension. Voluntary missionaries, trusting 
in God and the people for support, not only 
vigorously sustained the work in New Eng- 
land, but enlarged their circle of evangelistic 
work. Conspicuous among these missiona- 
ries was John Colby, w r ho, at the age of 
twenty-two, left his home in Sutton, Ver- 
mont, for a horseback journey to Ohio and 

[255] 



Benjamin Randall 

Indiana. In his outward journey he passed 
through southern New York and Pennsyl- 
vania. After visiting various parts of the 
States mentioned, he returned by way of 
Lake Erie and Niagara Falls. He suffered 
great hardships, was absent from home eight 
months, preached at nearly every halting- 
place, and traveled more than three thou- 
sand miles. Later, a string of churches 
sprang up the full length of his trail — trace- 
able to his evangelistic efforts. 

After the organization of the Home Mis- 
sion Society, in 1834, evangelistic work and 
church-building were systematically pushed 
over the Middle States to the extreme West- 
ern frontier. The funds of this Society have 
paid church debts, built church edifices, and 
in part, or fully, sustained pastors at stra- 
tegic points. Some of our largest and most 
useful churches have become such because 
of timely grants from the treasury of the 
Home Mission Society. 



[256] 



XXXV 

FOREIGN MISSIONS 

WHILE pagan nations were shut in by 
walls of granite or superstitions 
more impregnable, God allowed the churches 
of our country to increase their numbers and 
develop their resources. But with the provi- 
dential opening of iron doors, special em- 
phasis was placed upon the Lord's last com- 
mission, and the churches were moved to 
undertake world-wide evangelization. The 
eyes of our people were opened in the great 
awakening, and they became a factor of the 
general effort. 

Such a succession of providences com- 
bined in associating our people with foreign 
missions as to justify a few words of expla- 
nation. The facts for this purpose have 
been gleaned from several of our publica- 
tions, but mostly from the writings of Mrs. 
Hills, who, as far as they occurred in this 

s [257] 



Benjamin Randall 

country, witnessed the scenes she graphic- 
ally describes. 

Amos Sutton, D. D., was an English 
General Baptist missionary in India. His 
wife was an American lady, the widow of 
Rev. Mr. Coleman, a Baptist missionary who 
joined Doctor Judson in Burma. Some time 
in 1830, Doctor Sutton, while contemplating 
the dense multitudes of heathen about him, 
and the fewness of his associate laborers, 
became heartsick and despondent. In an 
effort to encourage him, she suggested that 
he make an effort to induce the Free Baptists 
of America to join in their foreign mission 
work, as they were the same in doctrinal 
views as the General Baptists. 

Doctor Sutton at once wrote a long letter, 
explaining the opportunity, and closing with 
these words : " Come, then, my American 
brethren; come over and help us. The way 
is as short and safe from India to heaven 
as from your land of privilege. ,, After 
many months of delay, this letter reached its 
destination and was published in "The 

[258] 






Benjamin Randall 

Morning Star," of April 13, 1832. This, 
with other articles on the same line, led to 
the organization, in 1833, of our Foreign 
Mission Society, 

A little later Doctor Sutton visited this 
country for the recuperation of his health 
and the enlistment of recruits for the field. 
While here he traveled extensively and 
lectured often. 

September 22, 1835, Doctor Sutton, his 
wife, and nineteen recruits stood on Union 
Wharf, Boston, ready to embark on the ship 
Louvre for India. Of these, Jeremiah Phil- 
lips and Eli Noyes, with their wives, were 
Free Baptists. Now let Mrs. Hills, then the 
wife of Rev. David Marks, describe the 
send-off : 

Mr. Marks and myself being in Boston 
for the purpose of completing arrangements 
for the voyage of the missionaries, it was 
our precious privilege to be present in the 
throng of several thousand assembled on 
the wharf to witness the departure of the 
Louvre. The missionaries stood together 

[259] 



Benjamin Randall 

on the side of the ship facing the throng, 
with cheerful faces, undimmed by a single 
tear. There were singing and prayer on the 
wharf, after which Mr. Sutton, as he looked 
upon the various groups of weeping friends 
on the shore, said : " This is not a sorrowful 
day to us. It is the happiest day I ever saw. 
We are going to preach the gospel to the 
heathen. Do you, in this Christian land, be 
careful that you do not neglect us. If you 
do, how will those condemn you to whom 
we are going! Think of that." 

At eleven o'clock in the forenoon, the 
red-shirted seamen came on deck, up went 
the sails, the cable was cast off, and as the 
vessel moved slowly from its moorings the 
missionaries commenced to sing: 

" Yes, my native land, I love thee ; 
All thy scenes, I love them well," 

and continued till their voices were lost 
in the distance. We gazed till the ships ap- 
peared a mere speck, and vanished from our 
sight. 

Limited space must exclude details of the 
long voyage, the establishing of our mission, 

[260] 



Benjamin Randall 

the hardships endured, the graves that soon 
closed over loved ones, and of victories 
finally gained. Here it must suffice to say 
that, of the large company of missionaries 
who sailed on the Louvre, Rev. Jeremiah 
Phillips, our senior missionary, was the last 
to leave the field. 

Reenforcements soon followed our pio- 
neers, stations were slowly increased, and in 
successive order came schools, churches, or- 
phanages, homes for widows, medical dis- 
pensaries, and the printing-press. 

Our Board, as a rule, has been fortunate 
in the selection of men and women for the 
field; the missionaries have faithfully served 
and honored the denomination that sustained 
them. 



[261] 



XXXVI 

EDUCATIONAL WORK 

DURING the generation immediately 
following the passing of Mr. Randall 
our ministers did a grand work in evangeli- 
zation. Our numerical strength increased 
by leaps and bounds. Our denominational 
standards had invaded two British Prov- 
inces and were rapidly moving westward. 

But the thoughtful among our ministry 
clearly saw that the greater efficiency of our 
denomination demanded that more be done 
by way of the general education of our 
young people and the special education of 
candidates for the ministry. 

In the autumn of 1839 this sentiment be- 
gan to take practical form. Four minis- 
ters — John Chaney, Silas Curtis, Dexter 
Waterman, and John J. Butler — met at 
Farmington, Maine, and after prayerful de- 
liberation- determined to call an educational 

[262] 




EDUCATIONAL PIONEERS 

Doctors Butler and Waterman, Chaney and Curtis were 

founders of the Free Baptist Education Society; 

Doctor Fullonton was early and for many years 

President of its first Divinity School 



Benjamin Randall 

convention. That call was then and there 
formulated. Later, with forty-six signa- 
tures, it was published in " The Morning 
Star." In response to this call on the fif- 
teenth of January, 1840, seventy-six minis- 
ters and prominent laymen met at Acton, 
Maine, and organized the Free Baptist Edu- 
cation Society. 

In ways that cannot here be mentioned, 
and to an extent incalculable, the Educa- 
tion Society has benefited our denomination 
and the world. In 1894 its work, with that 
of other benevolent societies, was placed 
under the executive management of the Gen- 
eral Conference Board. 

The primary object of the Society was the 
education of young men for the ministry. It 
has done this and much more. The senti- 
ment that here had organic expression, 
through our periodical literature and pul- 
pits, soon became general, and educational 
institutions sprang up over the denomination 
almost as by magic. 

The educational sentiment of our people, 

[263) 



Benjamin Randall 

and the expression of it, includes what has 
been called " the last word in popular edu- 
cation/' McClure, in a recent magazine 
article, refers to the Chautauqua movement 
as " the last word in popular education." 
He then speaks of its systematic study of 
the Bible, its courses in arts, crafts, and do- 
mestic science; its programs of lectures, 
music, and different phases of entertain- 
ment. Our Ocean Park combines all that 
goes to make that last word in popular edu- 
cation, and more. With its deep pine grove 
and its broad sea-front, Ocean Park has 
local attractions that are impossible to Chau- 
tauqua on the lake. 

At our denominational centennial, Doctor 
Bowen voiced the sentiment of our people as 
to the character of the schools we all want : 

Our schools and colleges must be places 
where godliness shall be enthroned and pro- 
moted; where hope, light, and strength may 
go out to the church and the world. We are 
not wise in supporting them as simply liter- 
ary institutions. We must labor and pray 

[264] 



Benjamin Randall 

that their graduates may be positive Chris- 
tian forces in the world. Our hope and suc- 
cess for the century upon which we have 
just entered depend upon the manner and 
spirit with which we solve this question of 
education. We must insist upon such an 
education as shall make citizens of useful- 
ness and piety; uniting culture of intellect 
with spiritual growth and power. We want, 
America wants, the world wants, only conse- 
crated men and women, who shall relieve its 
woes and bring peace and cheer. 

Without fear of contradiction by any who 
know the facts, it is claimed that our schools 
have measured up to these high ideals. Rev. 
Granville C. Waterman, A. M., son of a 
founder of the Education Society, for sev- 
eral years recording secretary of that or- 
ganization, and who had been principal 
of one of our seminaries, in referring to 
another institution of similar grade, said in 
part : 

It is a school. That preeminently. It 
has never failed to give instruction to its 
students; to stimulate them to high resolve 

[265] 



Benjamin Randall 

and resolute endeavor; to inspire in them a 
broad idea of true scholarship. This is fully 
proved by the rank they have taken in col- 
lege and professional schools, and in the 
quality of the work they have done and are 
doing in the broader arena of the world's 
busy life. 

It is a Christian school. From first to 
last there has always been within it a strong 
religious, but not sectarian, influence. 
Scores of young people, while in school 
there, have been led to begin a Christian life, 
and from a beginning there made have gone 
on from one degree of Christian attainment 
to another, until they have become pillars of 
strength to the churches in many parts of 
the country. 

What Mr. Waterman wrote of the school 
that at that time filled his mind's eye is ap- 
plicable to all our schools of similar and 
higher grades. Students from our semina- 
ries and colleges have honored all positions 
in Church, State, and nation, from the low- 
est to the highest. 



[266] 



XXXVII 

REMEMBERING THOSE IN BONDS AS BOUND 
WITH THEM 

DURING the early part of the nineteenth 
century the influence of slavery, like 
the pall of death, hung over our country and 
cast its black shadow upon the whole nation. 
Civil government, the press, and even the 
pulpit were silent respecting this institution, 
or were its advocates. Doctor Cheney, late 
president of Bates College, in referring to 
these conditions, says : 

The time, then, had come for Christian 
people to speak, else the nation, in the order 
of God's providence, might expect an early 
doom. And a Christian people did speak at 
the needed time, God — as I believe — making 
the choice. But the people God chose to 
speak for himself, to show the nation its sin, 
was not one strong in either numbers or 
wealth. This is not God's way of doing 

[267] 



Benjamin Randall 

things. In the moral government of the 
world he means that no flesh shall glory in 
his presence. What people, then, did God 
choose to do this work? I answer, the Free 
Baptist people. 

All students of history in possession of 
the facts must concede that these claims of 
Doctor Cheney are fully sustained. Our 
denomination was evolved during the revo- 
lutions that gave individuality to our na- 
tion. Among the characteristics of its 
natal inheritance, are a strong love of 
liberty, a keen sense of justice, and executive 
energy along all lines that make for purity 
of faith and righteousness of action. 

Long before public expression on the sub- 
ject, our people were in sympathy with the 
oppressed race of our nation. In 1834, in 
accordance with previous notice, a resolu- 
tion in the interests of emancipation was 
passed by the Farmington, Maine, Quarterly 
Meeting. A few months later a similar 
resolution was adopted by the Rockingham, 
New Hampshire, Quarterly Meeting. The 

[268] 



Benjamin Randall 

session of New Hampshire Yearly Meet- 
ing, in 1835, was held at Lisbon, with an 
estimated attendance of three thousand. In 
that great meeting, full of missionary inter- 
est and revival grace, the poor slave was not 
forgotten. Holding a paper in his hand, 
Rev, David Marks arose and said : 

Brother Moderator: It is entirely proper 
for this Yearly Meeting to speak in behalf 
of the Africans. The church in America 
is guilty of the sin of slaveholding, because 
it has never come up and borne a firm and 
united testimony against it. Men tell us to 
be still, and wait for a more favorable op- 
portunity. No, brethren, we must not be 
still; we must wash our hands from the 
guilt of this sin. 

He then read and moved the adoption of 
the following: 

Resolved, That the principles of imme- 
diate abolition are derived from the uner- 
ring word of God; and that no political 
circumstances whatever can exonerate 
Christians from exerting all their moral 

[269] 



Benjamin Randall 



influence for the suppression of this heinous 
sin. 

Rev. Jonathan Woodman, after enthu- 
siastic remarks of approval, seconded the 
motion. After eloquent indorsement by 
others, including Amos Sutton, D. D., an 
English missionary from India, and F. A. 
Cox, D. D., of London, the motion was 
unanimously adopted. 

Similar resolutions were soon adopted by 
our people in Vermont, New York, and 
Rhode Island. The General Conference was 
held the following October in Byron, New 
York. All constituent bodies were, by dele- 
gation, fully represented. At that session, 
conference unanimously adopted the follow- 
ing: 

Resolved, That slavery is an unjust in- 
fringement on the rights of the slaves; an 
unwarrantable exercise of power on the 
part of the master; a potent enemy to the 
happiness and morals of our slaveholding 
population; and, if continued, must ulti- 
mately result in the ruin of our country. 

[270] 



Benjamin Randall 

In 1839 General Conference declined an 
accession of twenty thousand members from 
Kentucky of similar faith and practice — 
except in the matter of slavery. This test 
act of Conference shut the door against the 
prospective reception of five thousand from 
North Carolina, and indefinite numbers of 
like faith from other Southern States. Doc- 
tor Stewart, in referring to this action, says : 

It was a bold and unprecedented act 
for a denomination, in that day, thus to 
cast itself off from all connection with 
slavery. But the men who acted were the 
stuff of which heroes are made. And it is 
our joy that neither hope nor fear, flattery 
nor public scorn, could divert them from 
their convictions of right and duty. 

Another item in this record concerns the 
position early taken by " The Morning 
Star," our denominational paper, on the 
question of slavery. For a long time the 
" Star " was the only religious journal in 
our country that met the question of slavery 
on high moral grounds. 

[271] 



Benjamin Randall 

Our Anti- Slavery Society was organized 
in 1843, an d from that time till slavery was 
abolished by constitutional amendment, the 
Society did valiant service by reports, ad- 
dresses, and discussions, in keeping up a 
thrilling interest in emancipation. 

As Christians our people had talked and 
prayed, and as citizens they had voted for 
emancipation. During 1861-1865 thousands 
of them, including fifty-eight of our minis- 
ters and more than two hundred of their 
sons, helped God answer their prayers, 
though "by terrible things in righteous- 
ness." 

On the field of Gettysburg there stands a 
statue in bas-relief, placed there by a wealthy 
Philadelphian, who had heard the pathetic 
story which it represents. A Union soldier 
is shown bending over a wounded Confed- 
erate. With one arm the boy in blue sup- 
ports the shoulders and head of the boy in 
gray, while with his other hand he gives 
him water from his canteen. 

And this is the story: The Union regi- 

[272] 



Benjamin Randall 

ment was in double-quick charge. By a 
change of orders it was for a moment, and 
only a moment, at halt, when the faint call, 
" Water! water! water! " caught the ear of 
the Union boy. The rest of the story is told 
in bas-relief. The hero of this episode was 
and is a Free Baptist. For discretion and 
bravery he was, soon after this act, ad- 
vanced to a captaincy; he is now the Rev. 
Ephraim W. Ricker, of New Hampshire. 

The spirit that prompted the magnani- 
mous act that stands memorialized in mar- 
ble on the field of Gettysburg is the same 
that animates our Free Baptist people. We 
hold no grudge, rejoice with our Southern 
fellow citizens over a free country, and 
reach a fraternal hand to the entire com- 
monwealth of Israel. 



[273] 



XXXVIII 

WORK AMONG THE FREEDMEN 

AS our denomination was the first to 
declare that " We will, as Christians 
and as Christian ministers, use our influence 
to promote the doctrine of emancipation," it 
was also among the first to act in response 
to General Butler's call for money and mis- 
sionaries to evangelize and educate to citi- 
zenship the contrabands gathered at national 
strongholds in the South. 

As soon as the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion had made it possible, this denomination 
was among the first to establish schools and 
churches for the f reedmen. During the first 
six years of its opportunity, our Home Mis- 
sion Board sent and sustained, in the inter- 
ests of the freedmen, sixty-six different 
persons, pious and well educated, as teach- 
ers, and thirty-three ministers as missiona- 
ries. 

[274] 



Benjamin Randall 

It took as fine courage for those pioneer 
teachers and missionaries to prosecute the 
work of education and evangelization as it 
did for the Union soldiers to make that work 
possible. It is fitting that those pioneer 
heroes and heroines be embalmed in the 
grateful memory of passing generations. 
Hence, with malice toward none, and love 
for all loyal citizens of our united country, 
a few of the conditions those pioneers had 
to reckon with, as gleaned from the copious 
scrap-book of Mrs. Anna S. Dudley Bates, 
are here given. The incidents, selected al- 
most at random, are illustrative of others. 

Under commission of the Free Baptist 
Home Mission Board, in company with three 
other ladies, Miss Dudley went to Virginia 
as a teacher of freedmen. She speaks of a 
cordial reception at Harper's Ferry by Rev. 
N. C. Brackett, who was local superintend- 
ent of Freedmen's Missions, and adds : 

I had been at Harper's Ferry but a few 
days when it was proposed to open a school 
at Charlestown, eight miles up the Shenan- 

[275] 



Benjamin Randall 

doah River. But it was not safe for a 
teacher to go alone, so General Van Patten, 
Chaplain Chase, Doctor Brackett, and a 
company of soldiers went as my escort; and 
I marched into Charlestown with bluecoats 
and bayonets leading the way. 

The soldiers were left to guard the place 
for a while. But one morning I looked out 
and the soldiers were gone. For a moment 
my heart stood still with fear. Then, clear 
as human voice, came ringing through my 
soul: "The angel of the Lord encampeth 
round about them that fear him, and de- 
livereth them," and my fear was gone. 

I could get no permanent boarding-place 
for nearly two months. It would have been 
a lifelong disgrace for a Virginian to have 
boarded a Yankee teacher; and the Rubicon 
once passed, there could be no return to 
friends and society, no more than over the 
walls of caste in India. So I was there 
alone, boarding myself and teaching day 
and night, until I had a hundred and fifty 
pupils of all ages and complexions. 

All the colored people manifested the 
greatest kindness toward us. I shall never 
forget the oft-repeated prayer: "O Lord, 

[276] 



Benjamin Randall 

bless de teacher dat come so far distance to 
teach us. Front and fight her battles, and 
bring her safe home to glory — if you please, 
Massa Jesus." 

But the white people of the locality made 
it clear that they had no use for Yankee 
schoolma'ms. Perhaps few of them could 
give as good a reason for their antipathy as 
did a local saloon-keeper, who, referring to 
Miss Dudley, said, " Every day Miss Massa- 
chusetts is in town I lose seventy dollars." 

In writing of some of the dangers to 
which the teachers were exposed, Miss Dud- 
ley says : 

Once I hardly dared to look at a weapon 
of war, but in the proud " Old Dominion " I 
have placed a good axe and six-shooter at 
the head of my bed many a night, resolved to 
sell my life as dearly as possible — if need 
be. 

On one occasion, at least, this heroic cour- 
age was put to the test. Her living apart- 
ments were in the loft of her schoolroom. 

[277] 



Benjamin Randall 

One morning the colored girl who stayed 
with her had to go early to service. Of 
course, in her departure she had left the 
door unbarred. Probably her movements 
had been watched, for soon Miss Dudley 
heard the approach of stealthy steps. She 
seized her axe and posed at the head of the 
stairs, where she was soon confronted by a 
lewd fellow of the baser sort. She raised 
the ax over his head and ordered a halt and 
retreat, immediate and unconditional. He 
looked at her just long enough to see that 
she meant business, then slunk down, out, 
and off. 

But one more tragic incident can be ad- 
mitted. Lexington was the center of South- 
ern chivalry, and the location of the college 
over which General Lee presided and of one 
of our schools for the f reedmen, The scrap- 
book relates the story: 

These chivalrous (?) students had caused 
our teachers much trouble. One night a 
party of them gathered about the school 
building and demanded one of the scholars, 

[2 7 8] 



Benjamin Randall 

saying they were going to shoot him. When 
the teachers could not persuade them to go 
away, and the rowdies were getting des- 
perate, Miss Harper stepped forward and 
told them if they shot Ben they would shoot 
her first. With wonderful courage she 
drove them away. The next day she had 
them arrested and taken to court. The mat- 
ter was hushed up, and General Lee sent the 
teachers a note of apology. The next morn- 
ing after this raid on the school, Ben was 
sent to Lewiston, Maine. 

To illustrate the spirit of sacrifice and de- 
sire for self-support on the part of those 
who had just emerged from slavery, the 
scrap-book gives us this : 

We still feel encouraged in our work. 
Instead of two hundred dollars, I have col- 
lected more than two thousand dollars for 
churches here, and mostly from the colored 
people in this place. They are all poor, and 
the money given is earned by hard labor. 
One cold, stormy day last winter, I found 
an old woman, seventy years of age, trying 
to wash. I was surprised, but she said, " O 

[279] 



Benjamin Randall 

honey, Ys tryin* to get a little mo' money for 
de church." She had already given me five 
dollars. 

More than twenty years ago, Dr. Nathan 
Cook Brackett, then president of Storer Col- 
lege, stated to the author: 

But now, after almost three decades of 
toil, the novelty of teaching bright-eyed 
children and eager, grateful mothers their 
first lessons from books has passed away. 
So, also, to a large extent, has the heroism 
of the work. One can now be a missionary 
to the colored people and escape insult on the 
street. 

In response to a letter of inquiry respect- 
ing present Southern sentiment as to the 
education of the colored race, after stating 
that " in those sections where the educated 
colored people are, there the sentiment in 
favor of education is strongest," President 
McDonald, of Storer College, then adds: 

Here at Harper's Ferry we believe that 
we are especially blest in the attitude of the 

[280] 



Benjamin Randall 

best people in this matter. One hears noth- 
ing against the school from those whose 
opinion is worth considering. The same 
general attitude obtains in the whole village. 
We are thankful for that, and are trying to 
maintain so good a record that it will be im- 
possible to have any other sentiment assert 
itself. 



[281] 



XXXIX 

OUR WOMEN IN COOPERATIVE WORK 

THE story of "Phaedrus; or, How We 
Got the Greatest Book in the World," 
by Newell Dwight Hillis, D. D., represents 
the celebration of Christmas Eve by a group 
of early disciples in the house of one Nicias, 
of Ephesus. The observance is very simple, 
consisting of what we might call a service of 
prayer, testimony, and praise. In it the very 
first speaker was a woman of rank, who was 
converted from heathenism, and who spoke 
as follows: 

Whether or not the men of Greece fol- 
low the Master, all the women will. Too 
long we have had to work in silence, content 
to be neither seen nor heard when men were 
near. Because the Master was born of a 
woman on this night, it is become the night 
of nights for all the women of the world. 
He filled up the gulf between men and 

[282] 




Benjamin Randall 

women. When I learned that, I knew that 
he would bring us the golden age. 

The social gulf between men and women 
was made by paganism, and wherever it 
exists in nominally Christian lands, it is a 
relic of paganism. " But from the begin- 
ning it was not so." Christ simply restored 
women to the social relations that existed in 
the Creative Mind. 

As a people we have simply recognized 
those relations. From the very first of our 
organic existence, women have been con- 
ceded what we have regarded as their di- 
vinely appointed place, squarely by the side 
of their brethren. 

Our colleges were among the first to ig- 
nore sex discrimination; and from their halls 
scores of young women are annually going 
forth, thoroughly furnished for the domes- 
tic, industrial, educational, and religious 
work of the world. 

In devotion, effort, and sacrifice, our 
women have at least equaled their brethren. 

[283] 



Benjamin Randall 

In church development, church extension, 
and benevolent enterprises, they have effi- 
ciently served with their brethren on com- 
mittees, councils, and boards. 

For the aid of the churches in the sup- 
port of missions at home and abroad, our 
women organized at General Conference 
held at Sutton, Vermont, in 1847. Since 
then their work has been both inspirational 
and executive. They instituted monthly 
meetings for prayer for missions and the 
dissemination of missionary intelligence. 
By " concerts," in which singing, recitations, 
and select readings were the order, they in- 
terested the children in missions. They 
raised, largely by self-sacrifice, money for 
the treasuries of all our benevolent opera- 
tions. 

Since 1874 the Woman's Missionary So- 
ciety has constantly sustained missionaries 
in India, where they have established 
schools, a kindergarten hall, an orphanage, 
a widows' homeland a medical dispensary. 
Their missionaries have been especially suc- 

[284] 



Benjamin Randall 

cessful as teachers, evangelists, and zenana 
workers. 

True to its original purpose, the Woman's 
Missionary Society has sustained home as 
well as foreign missions, notably among the 
f reedmen. From its treasury, college build- 
ings have been erected, industrial depart- 
ments have been instituted, and teachers 
sustained. 

Though sustaining an independent treas- 
ury, the Woman's Society has not only main- 
tained its own special work, but has, directly 
and indirectly, contributed thousands of dol- 
lars to parent boards, and has never closed 
its fiscal year in debt. 

As to literature, the Woman's Society has 
created and distributed millions of pages of 
leaflets and booklets, and several standard 
works in more permanent form. Since 1878 
it has published one of the neatest, sweetest, 
and ablest missionary magazines of our 
country, " The Missionary Helper." 

After all, perhaps the most enduring work 
of " those women " has been of that quiet, 

[285] 



Benjamin Randall 

instructive nature that has made possible 
the young people's movement, which, in 
turn, makes manifestation of itself in all 
manner of good work for humanity and for 
God, in all lands. 

In monarchical countries, when the king 
or queen is " toasted," response is regarded 
as " bad form." It is claimed that the most 
brilliant encomiums would only cheapen 
royalty. Our sister is a daughter of the 
Great King. Laudation would only cheapen 
her royalty. It is enough that we point with 
honest pride to her character and her 
achievements — this we do — "and let her 
own works praise her in the gates" 



[286] 



XL 



OUR YOUNG PEOPLE'S MOVEMENT 



BEGINNING with the example and pre- 
cepts of Mr. Randall, our people have 
given special attention to the religious in- 
struction of children and youth. Early in 
the last century they welcomed the Sunday- 
school as a cooperative factor. Since then, 
helped by an appropriate literature fur- 
nished by our publishing house, and receiv- 
ing wise management from the church, the 
Sunday-school has grown to be a mighty 
power for good. Without diminishing in any 
way its own vigor or efficiency, the Sunday- 
school has evolved the young people's move- 
ment. 

Mr. Harry S. Myers, A. M., a former 
professor in Hillsdale College, now a secre- 
tary of the Missionary Education Movement 
of the United States and Canada, and for 
several years general secretary of our de- 

[2S7] 



Benjamin Randall 

nominational young people's organizations, 
in response to urgent request, kindly con- 
sented to write the record of our organized 
young people for this volume. 

Had it not been for a suggestion of space 
limits, Secretary Myers would probably 
have included in this very excellent review 
more about the local work of our young 
people. In justice it should be said, how- 
ever, that they contributed devotion to our 
meetings of worship, money to our treas- 
uries, executive ability to administrative 
departments, and lifted our churches to 
broader planes of outlook and effort. For 
all this, much is due to the efficient super- 
vision of former General Secretary Myers. 
His summary subjoined is both instructive 
and inspirational : 

As long ago as the Civil War there was, 
in the Washington Street Free Baptist 
Church, at Dover, New Hampshire, an or- 
ganization of young people for serious pur- 
poses, very similar to the plans which after- 
ward developed into the general young 

[288] 



Benjamin Randall 

people's societies. In 1876, in the Free Bap- 
tist church at Goblesville, Michigan, a young 
people's society was organized which has 
had a continuous existence until the present 
time. It was formed on exactly the same 
plan — with educational objects — as the 
Christian Endeavor Society, organized six 
years later, in Portland, Maine. As far as I 
know, this was the first real young people's 
society ever organized that really belongs to 
the modern young people's movement. 

In 1886 the Free Baptists organized 
a denominational young people's society 
known as the Advocates of Christian Fi- 
delity; and in 1888 this organization sent 
Rev. and Mrs. Edwin B. Stiles as missiona- 
ries to India, under the Free Baptist Foreign 
Mission Board. These were the first of a 
long list of many missionaries, who have 
gone to the foreign field, to be appointed by 
young people's organizations. 

The name of the general organization 
was changed at the convention held at Fair- 
port, New York, in 1897, to the United So- 
ciety of Free Baptist Young People, and 
that name continued until. May 26, 1912, 
when the organization ceased to exist as a 

u [289] 



Benjamin Randall 

separate entity, and was merged into the 
Young People's Department of the Ameri- 
can Baptist Publication Society. 

The young people's organization paid as 
large an amount as five thousand dollars two 
or three different years for missionary work 
outside of the local community, and had a 
total membership of thirteen thousand, 
which was the largest proportionate mem- 
bership of any denominational young peo- 
ple's organization. And in the fall of 1907 
there were more people in the Free Baptist 
churches engaged in mission study, propor- 
tionately, than in any other church, This 
was a result of the work carried on in con- 
nection with the young people's organiza- 
tion. 

In 191 1, with full authority of the Gen- 
eral Conference of Free Baptists, it was 
voted by the Council of the United Society 
of Free Baptist Young People to unite the 
young people's work of the Free Baptists 
with the Baptists; and on Sunday afternoon, 
May 26, 19 1 2, at the Northern Baptist Con- 
vention, in Des Moines, Iowa, I presented, 
amidst great enthusiasm, the gavel and block 
which had been the property of the United 

[290] 



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as O 




Benjamin Randall 

Society of Free Baptist Young People, to the 
Young People's Department of the North- 
ern Baptist Convention, and they were ac- 
cepted by Rev. George T. Webb, for many 
years the general secretary of the Baptist 
Young People's Union, and at that time one 
of the editors of the American Baptist Pub- 
lication Society. 

Some people who were at the Northern 
Baptist Convention throughout all its ses- 
sions, said that more interest and enthu- 
siasm were shown at this afternoon session 
than at any other session of the entire con- 
vention. It was due undoubtedly to the fact 
that it represented visible union of parts of 
two different organizations in the kingdom 
of God. 



[291] 



XL! 

OUR SPECIAL MISSION 

DURING the early years of our national 
history, existing religious bodies were 
busy with important work in their respective 
localities; but it was literally true that the 
harvest was great and the laborers were 
few. The majority of the great middle class 
of the country, those characterized by phys- 
ical robustness, mental vigor, and, when 
converted, spiritual devotion, were un- 
reached by the gospel. 

It seems to have been a part of God's 
providence that our people should come to 
the kingdom for such a time as this, and that 
their special work should be for the salva- 
tion of souls in those country districts. 

Our fathers were men of deep piety and 
quick discernment, and had the faculty of 
adaptation. But, for the most part, they 
seemed better fitted to labor as evangelists 

[292] 



Benjamin Randall 

than as pastors. The Rev. John Buzzell, 
who was actively associated with Mr. Ran- 
dall, placed this on record : 

The mission of our early ministers 
seemed to be to get souls converted. Among 
the hundreds saved by their efforts, some 
were embodied into our churches, but other 
hundreds were gathered in by other denomi- 
nations. 

So it has been to a considerable extent 
through the years in which our history has 
been making. We have labored and others 
have entered into our labors. We have been 
kept numerically "poor," while we have 
been " making many rich." 

Of the causes that have combined to de- 
velop these conditions, it is fitting that a few 
have mention. 

Our fathers placed emphasis upon re- 
generation rather than upon church build- 
ing or church extension. Efforts were cen- 
tered on the conversion of souls, and no 
person was received to church-membership 

[293] 



Benjamin Randall 

without the clearest evidence of having been 
born from above. 

Then too, our people have been so shy of 
everything that savored of sectarianism that 
they have not been so denominational as they 
might well have been. As a result, our de- 
nominational bonds have been lightly felt 
and easily severed, and the lines were passed 
when relations with other bodies would suit 
inclinations or convenience of members. 

Our people established schools for the 
education of the ministry as soon as it was 
possible for them to do so; but not soon 
enough for the training of our early minis- 
ters. These found schools already estab- 
lished, but by older denominations. To these 
schools our early candidates for the minis- 
try, who sought higher education, had to 
resort; and many remained to serve the de- 
nomination through whose schools they had 
received intellectual furnishment. Thus 
some of the men we needed for our denomi- 
national enlargement were lost to us, but 
gained by others. 

[294] 



Benjamin Randall 

Our churches suffered severely by the 
depopulation of country towns. Through- 
out all the country, first and later occupied 
by Free Baptists, the original landowners 
and their immediate successors have died. 
Later generations, having inherited im- 
poverished farms, have sought financial bet- 
terment in other localities, some in the far 
West and others in our large cities. While 
all denominations have suffered by this exo- 
dus, Free Baptists have been the greatest 
losers, especially where the tide of popula- 
tion drifted to the cities. This for two rea- 
sons : First, because such a large proportion 
of our constituency lived in the country; and 
secondly, because we had few strong city 
churches to gather the influx. But the fittest 
of this influx was gathered and utilized by 
other denominations. 

Thus among the results of these combined 
causes thousands have passed beyond our 
denominational lines to swell the ranks of 
other evangelical bodies, 

While this is not the order that we would 

I 2 95] 



Benjamin Randall 

have chosen, we are comforted with the 
thought that it may have been a part of 
God's plan for the conservation and dissemi- 
nation of a pure evangelism. When our 
people became an organic entity, two forces, 
French infidelity on the one hand, and a 
frigid formality on the other, were threaten- 
ing the very life of evangelical Christianity. 

From the first our people have held and 
taught pure evangelical Christianity. The 
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher honored us by 
saying that " Free Baptists are always on 
the right side of all moral questions and on 
the evangelical side of all controverted doc- 
trines." This compliment so graciously 
conferred was, and is, richly deserved. Now, 
if we add the fact that these principles had 
expression in active, efficient, Christian 
work, we may accept it as a just representa- 
tion as to the quality of our contributions to 
other religious bodies. 

Like the Hebrews in exile, in civic rela- 
tions to the lands of their adoption, the men 
and women whom we gave to other religious 

[296] 



Benjamin Randall 

bodies have held and honored all positions 
of trust and responsibility in connection 
with their new relations. A Congregational 
minister once said to the author : " My Free 
Baptist constituents are the very soul of my 
devotional meetings, and are the most active 
element in all departments of my church 
work/* Mrs. Libbie C. Griffin, one of our 
India missionaries, was on a well-earned 
furlough. She was a college girl, and 
among her many gifts was that of ready 
and polished speech. Her representations 
of life in India and the claims of missions 
were at once instructive, interesting, and im- 
pressive. She was much in demand for ad- 
dresses, not only among her own people, but 
in churches of other denominations. She 
said that wherever she spoke in large city 
churches of other denominations, she found 
former Free Baptists — found them occupy- 
ing and honoring all grades of church offices, 
from that of Sunday-school teacher up. An 
able article on "Those Who Were Once 
Free Baptists," by President Mauck, of 

[297] 



Benjamin Randall 

Hillsdale College, published about five years 
ago, gives many illustrative facts which 
would be of interest here, but which, to be 
consistent with the determined brevity of 
this work, must be excluded. 

Another consideration that helps to recon- 
cile us to what we interpret as the order of 
Providence, is the fact that Benjamin Ran- 
dall projected his theology over a hundred 
years in advance of his times. The doc- 
trines he held and taught are coming more 
and more to the front. The power that is 
in them and behind them will carry on the 
processes of advancement until the church 
universal shall clasp hands and sing " Coro- 
nation." 

It is possible that our contribution to the 
kingdom of God, through our own church 
and other churches, may be placed by the 
Master in the class with leaven, or the 
widow's offering to the temple treasury. If 
so, it will be — beyond the power of human 
calculation — Great, 

[298] 



XLII 

THE SPIRIT OF RANDALL AS ILLUSTRATED 
BY LAST GENERAL CONFERENCE 

IF the soul of Benjamin Randall was con- 
sciously hovering over the General Con- 
ference of Free Baptists, held at Ocean 
Park, Maine, July 15-17, 191 3, with his 
characteristic love of workable organization, 
good order, executive action, and evangelical 
doctrines, he must have been highly grati- 
fied. 

He would have been interested in the re- 
ports of Christian work accomplished and 
in process. He would have been edified and 
thrilled by the addresses delivered by our 
own men and by borrowed talent. He would 
have been in hearty sympathy with the spirit 
of comity which characterized the Confer- 
ence, and the legislation for broader Chris- 
tian endeavor. He would have placed his 
seal of approval upon all the transactions of 

[299] 



Benjamin Randall 

Conference, and thanked God for this culmi- 
nation of his thirty years' ministry. Hence 
it seems entirely fitting that a brief sum- 
mary of this convention, which so fully rep- 
resented the spirit of Randall, be given here, 
and that it be classified with other lines of 
his posthumous influence. 

In this effort, facts and, in some cases, 
formulations, have been gleaned from the 
general reports of Prof. Alfred Williams 
Anthony, D. D., Corresponding Secretary 
and Treasurer of the General Conference of 
Free Baptists, Special Joint Secretary of the 
American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 
the American Baptist Home Mission So- 
ciety, and the American Baptist Publication 
Society. 

Officers of General Conference 

Joseph W. Mauck, LL. D., President of 
Hillsdale College, though declining at first, 
was elected President of the Conference for 
a third term; Hon. Carl E. Milliken, Presi- 
dent, 191 2, of the Maine Senate, was elected 

[300] 




JOSEPH W. MAUCK, LL. D. 

President of Hillsdale College, also President 
of General Conference 



Benjamin Randall 

First Vice-president; Henry T. MacDonald, 
President of Storer College, Harper's Ferry, 
West Virginia, Second Vice-president; 
Lewis B. Stillman, of Saco, Maine, was 
made Clerk, with Miss Harriet A, Deering, 
of Portland, Maine, and Charles E. Tilley, 
of Providence, Rhode Island, Assistants; 
Alfred Williams Anthony, D. D., Professor 
in Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, was 
elected both Corresponding Secretary and 
Treasurer, continuing the dual office which 
he has held for the last two years; and J. F, 
Boothby, of Lewiston, Maine, was elected 
Auditor. 

The Conference Board 

The new members of the Conference 
Board comprise six women and nine men, as 
follows : 

Mrs. Sarah C. G. Avery, of New Hamp- 
shire; Mrs. Mary W. Batchelder, of Maine; 
Mrs. Emeline B. Cheney, of Michigan; Miss 
Harriet A. Deering, of Maine; Mrs. F. L. 
Durgin, of Minnesota; Mrs. Libbie C. Grif- 

[301] 



Benjamin Randall 

fin, of New York; H. M. Ford, D. D., of 
Maine; President Joseph W. Mauck, LL. D., 
of Michigan; W. J. Fulton, D. D., of Ohio; 
Rivingtoij D. Lord, D. D., of New York; 
Prof. Alfred Williams Anthony, D. D., of 
Maine; President Henry T. MacDonald, of 
West Virginia; Hon. Carl E. Milliken, of 
Maine; Thomas H. Stacy, D. D., of New 
Hampshire; and L. M. Webb, of Maine. 

Doctor Lord was elected President of the 
Board; Doctor Stacy, Recording Secretary; 
Miss Deering, Assistant Recording Secre- 
tary; and Messrs. Webb and Milliken and 
Mrs. Avery, members of the Executive Com- 
mittee, with the President and Recording 
Secretary members ex officio. 

As to the Addresses 

The three evenings of the Conference 
were occasions of information and inspira- 
tion. On the first evening President Mauck, 
in the President's address, reviewed the 
movement toward union from the beginning 
to the present; and Carter E. Cate, D. D., 

[302] 



Benjamin Randall 

gave an address of fine phrasing and rare 
discrimination, upon " Free Baptist Gifts 
to the World." On the second evening, C S. 
Macfarland, D. D., Executive Secretary of 
the Federal Council of the Churches of 
Christ in America, described the " Achieve- 
ments and Aims of the Council " ; and Lem- 
uel Call Barnes, D, D., Field Secretary of 
the American Baptist Home Mission So- 
ciety, spoke upon " Some of Our Home 
Tasks and Possibilities," setting forth in 
effective way the needs and opportunities 
for service between the North Pole and the 
Panama Canal. On the last evening, F, P. 
Haggard, D. D., Home Secretary of the 
American Baptist Foreign Mission Society, 
speaking on the theme, " Our Connection 
with World Tasks," illustrated from spe- 
cially prepared charts, the relation of Bap- 
tist and Free Baptist churches to their great 
organizations, culminating in the great mis- 
sionary societies and their services in many 
widely separated lands and for very many 
peoples. 

[303] 



Benjamin Randall 

Doctor Anthony's Summary 

The General Conference was character- 
ized by a remarkable spirit of unanimity and 
accord. Nearly every vote passed and act 
authorized had some reference to the union 
already begun and to be yet more fully con- 
summated. 

Significant changes were made in the 
constitutional provisions of the Conference. 
A smaller number may constitute a quorum 
for the transaction of business — twenty-one 
instead of thirty-three. The Conference 
Board will hereafter consist of fifteen in- 
stead of twenty-one; and the Conference it- 
self will meet after four-year intervals in- 
stead of three, as heretofore; and in case 
the Conference should, because of any 
changed conditions, not hold subsequent 
meetings, the Conference Board, inasmuch 
as it has power to fill vacancies in its own 
membership, and each member is elected to 
serve until his successor is elected and quali- 
fied, may become a self -continuing body; 

[304] 











i 


- 



REV. ALFRED WILLIAMS ANTHONY, D. D. 

" Our Baptist Interpreter " 
That is what Doctor Barnes called him 



Benjamin Randall 

and thus the legal entity of the Conference 
be preserved indefinitely. 

A Gem from the President's Address 

Into this niche we would fit a gem from 
the statesmanlike address of President 
Mauck. This was a review of the succes- 
sive steps toward union, from the beginning 
of the agitation to the date of delivery. Near 
the close of his address, President Mauck 
said: 

Let this skeleton statement suffice now. 
Officials of the large Baptist societies are 
to enter into the subject more fully in later 
sessions of the Conference. We shall 
heartily welcome them as the representa- 
tives of the spirit of a magnanimous de- 
nomination. 

We have an entirely excusable sense of 
a change in an order, dear to the heart and 
consecrated by the devotion of our honored 
predecessors in the General Conference* 
We easily feel that we give up much in 
marching resolutely to the ultimate stage of 
termination of a history precious to us. 

v [305] 



Benjamin Randall 

Some of us may go so far as to have a pious 
pride in the sacrifice involved in being the 
first communion to resolve deliberately to 
close its career as a separate communion. 
We have been first in other things. Can we 
be first in a greater movement than that of 
a union of the deplored schism in the body 
of our Lord? May not we in the future 
view this as both our last and our highest 
service to Christ, serving as an ensample, 
not alone in the required spirit, but as well 
in workable plans and details for promoting 
the union which many other communions 
sincerely desire, but have not discovered how 
it may be accomplished? 

Let us not delude ourselves with the 
thought that we alone have made honorable 
concessions. A less magnanimous and fra- 
ternal people than the Baptists would not 
have gone so far as they. Engrossed by 
their large problems, and even vexed by 
burdens, deficiencies, and other cares, they 
have not only bade us come into their fold, 
they have had the grace to come them- 
selves, assume our responsibilities, with no 
guaranty that our missions and other ac- 
tivities would not make additional drafts 

[306] 



Benjamin Randall 

on their already strained resources. They 
have, in the language of one of their large- 
minded and large-hearted men, in the basis 
of the union paid a tribute to what we have 
been and done which would not be exceeded 
by the ablest and most candidly loyal Free 
Baptist. 

The approach on each side has been one 
of growing nearness to the spirit of Christ. 
Both have changed as they have come nearer 
him. 

In this attempt of a general review of 
events of three years, the union trend seems 
to be the most conspicuous. It would be 
signally wanting without a reference to the 
union toward which the great peoples of 
Christ are tending. As Free Baptists we 
have been ready and prompt in other forces 
of great import and effect — notably the Fed- 
eral Council of Churches of Christ in Amer- 
ica, the councils of both home and foreign 
missions, and the contemplated World Con- 
ference on Faith and Order, initiated by our 
brethren of the Protestant Episcopal faith. 

Far transcending what we may lose in 
traditions and laudable love for our past is 
the reward of pioneer illustration of that 

[307] 



Benjamin Randall 

which the denominations at large devoutly 
desire. And it should here be said that the 
Baptists, to whom we now sustain peculiar 
relations, are the peers of any in promoting 
these national and world agencies for fed- 
eration and practical union. 

Free Baptist Cheer 

Respecting the several addresses with 
which the Conference was favored, all of 
them excellent, that of Doctor Barnes, to 
which reference has been made, was of spe- 
cial interest as showing the extensive oppor- 
tunities open to Baptists. Among appre- 
ciative tributes that followed was that of an 
enthusiastic brother, who exclaimed : " The 
privilege of listening to that lecture was 
worth a journey across a continent! " 

Soon after Doctor Barnes had reached 
his office in New York, a note appeared in 
" The Watchman," over his signature, which 
was such an echo of the broad, catholic 
spirit to which he gave utterance on the 
platform of Ocean Park Temple, that we 

[308] 






Benjamin Randall 

reproduce it here for the benefit of those who 
did not have the privilege of either hearing 
the lecture or reading the article. In doing 
this, it is our pleasure to concede to Doctor 
Barnes " the last word," under his chosen 
title, " Free Baptist Cheer." 

The nobility of spirit which has char- 
acterized the action of the Free Baptists in 
merging all their missionary funds and work 
in that of the general Baptist body was most 
marked in the meetings of the Triennial 
Conference. Whereas there might have 
been a note of pathetic regret, or a last, long- 
ing backward look, the meetings were char- 
acterized by a forward reach and a vigorous 
grappling of the inevitable problems remain- 
ing to be solved. 

The disposition of the brethren and 
sisters appeared to the writer to be of the 
highest and finest Christian order. They 
have not only done one of the most Christ- 
like deeds in the history of Christianity, but 
also are carrying it out in a spirit which 
ought to be an inspiration to all beholders. 
There is no moaning. They greet the fu- 
ture with a cheer. It is my conviction that 

[309] 



Benjamin Randall 

elements in the life of Free Baptists, which 
are greatly needed by the general Baptist 
body, are being brought to us. We ought 
to take every means possible to secure the 
spiritual blessings which the Lord is bring- 
ing our way in this connection. It is for 
us to welcome the Holy Spirit in our Free 
Baptist constituent as one of the best gifts 
of God to our whole denomination. 



[3io] 



